Here's a quick word of advice for HGV drivers.

If you'll be travelling in or around Portsmouth in the not-too-distant future, and need somewhere to rest your head, there's a new lorry park that could be opening up in 2019.

It's called the M275.

At least, that's the prediction of Portsmouth's port director, Mike Sellers, who reckons that, in the event of a no-deal Brexit, the motorway may be clogged up with trains of parked HGVs.

Why? Because the alternative involves building a new site and erecting a border check-post (at a cost of around £5m), which, he anticipates, will take at least 18 months to achieve.

Transport firms, in short, are going to see some serious delays.

In a conversation with The News, Sellers said:

‘Effectively, in a no deal scenario, if there goods turning up to the port not clearing customs we won’t be allowing them into the port.

‘Where would we put them? That’s the issue.When we look at the whole logistics of the model it’s all around fast-moving freight.

‘There’s very limited space for where goods could be held.’

Tell me more about the alternative

Sellers stressed the need for a secure site to be developed close to the port, with the district of Tipner currently leading the running.

On this, he continued:

‘We can’t expand any further. We’ve got Whale Island to one side and the Naval Base to the other side.

‘(The site) needs to be somewhere away from the port so if there’s the potential of HGV delays then we’ve got that contingency arrangement in place.

‘For a no-deal scenario, the last thing we want is the M275 backed up with HGVs.’

What kind of delays can we expect?

As reported in the same article, the extra paperwork alone would be enough to make the M275 look like an LA freeway at rush hour. In fact, adding a mere minute to each lorry's journey would in turn add 6 hours' delay to port operations per day.

Better kick off your shoes, friends, we might be stationary for some time.

Well, that was probably the simplest article on Brexit yet written. If you want something similarly straightforward, but a lot more in-depth, my colleague Chris Allen will be covering the topic in his next webinar. Get on that, if you want some serious Brexit brunch to chew on.