Sikh Community Plays Good Samaritan Again, Supplies Meals For Lorry Drivers Stuck On UK-France Border

Even as France has partially eased the travel ban, it had mandated that those entering the country from the UK must have a negative coronavirus test result.

Year 2020 has been spinning its web around our lives one after the other and it does not seem to stop. As news for COVID-19 vaccine emerged, a new strand or mutated coronavirus emerged in the UK creating global panic and sending us all back into our cocoons. While there have been plenty of acts this year which would lead us to believe it has been one downhill journey but we have also witnessed stories which brightened our spirit.

One such story is coming from Kent, UK. In a humanitarian act, members of the Sikh community have delivered hundreds of hot meals to lorry drivers who are stuck in Dover waiting to cross the English Channel after France closed its border with the UK.

The Good Act

In the wake of threat from a new strain of virus in the United Kingdom, thousands of truckers have been stuck at the port since France closed its border. Some drivers have slept in their trucks for at least two nights as they were forced to queue for miles along the M20, as per the report in the The Independent.

Even as France has partially eased the travel ban, it had mandated that those entering the country from the UK must have a negative coronavirus test result. However, the wait is still not over for almost over 5,000 lorries being held in three traffic management operations in Kent to cross the channel.

In absence of any supplies for drivers, Khalsa Aid and volunteers from Guru Nanak Darbar in Gravesend worked to deliver hundreds of hot meals over two days, so far, to those stranded.

Ravinder Singh, the founder and chief executive of Khalsa Aid, an international NGO providing humanitarian aid globally, sprung to action after watching a distressed driver on the news. At present a team of volunteers came together with Khalsa Aid to produce 800 meals of pasta and curry and rice in two-and-a-hours on Tuesday.




The founder also stressed on how feeding people in need is a key part of Sikhism. Stranded lorry drivers also received donations of food from footballers from Ramsgate FC and surplus food from cafes at St Pancras International.

Using the rail network, the  Salvation Army and London and South Eastern Railway took crates of food from the railway station to Ashford International.