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The Gibraltar Government has compiled further statistical data that it claims proves that the queues at the border are being deliberately generated by the Spanish authorities.
The statistics come from the new Frontier Monitoring Programme (FMP) which monitors the flow rate across the frontier, which is the number of cars that cross from Gibraltar to Spain in one minute.
The government said that in a normal situation between two parts of the European Union, the flow rate would be a figure which remained constant irrespective of the volume of cars that cross the border.
However, the data collected for last Thursday shows that at 2pm the rate of cars entering Spain was 7.8 per minute. However, by 3pm, this had slowed down to 2.9 cars per minute, which is when the queues started to build up.
The rate at which cars crossed into Spain then fell even further to 1.5 cars per minute by 6pm.
This added to the long queue along Devil's Tower Road which coincided with people leaving the beaches on their way home.
By 7pm, the rate of cars crossing into Spain had gone up again to 12.7 per minute.
Commenting on the matter, the Acting Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia said: "The fluctuation in the flow rate of cars crossing the same border from 12.7 cars per minute to 1.5 cars per minute is undeniable statistical proof of the way in which the delays are being generated."
"The new data shows that at a given time, the flow rate of cars crossing into Spain is deliberately reduced by the Spanish border authorities and later on, at their whim, cars are allowed through at a faster rate."
"The waiting time to cross into Spain peaked at just under three hours yesterday. This is intolerable in an internal border of the European Union. The brunt of this hardship is borne by EU nationals, thousands of whom are Spanish, who live in Spain and work in Gibraltar. Needless to say, residents of Gibraltar and tourists are also being affected."
Dr Garcia added: "It is important that people continue to complain to the European Commission, to their Members of the European Parliament and to UK MPs.
These complaints will add weight to those being made by the Government. The Government is in close and constant touch with the United Kingdom Government on the latest situation at the border. The Prime Minister himself has spelt out the unacceptable nature of the delays to his Spanish counterpart and we welcome this."
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