Government ministers, John Cortes and Steven Linares spent much of Saturday afternoon and evening distributing bottles of water to motorists who had been trapped in the border queue for nearly seven hours.

Dr Cortes had initially made arrangements for several thousand bottles of water to be provided by the GHA's Catering Department, whilst Minister Linares had called upon the Fire Service to deliver the pallets to the frontier. Six thousand paper cups, provided by the MOD, were then delivered to the border by the Ambulance Service.

The Ministers also arranged for the Airport terminal building to be kept open so that the buildings toilets could be available to people who had been waiting in the queue for many hours.

Meanwhile the Royal Gibraltar Police called in an additional ten off-duty officers to assist with traffic control duties. Many of their officers had been on traffic duties around the Northern District from 9am until late into the evening.

Describing the situation, Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Garcia said, 'Spain has again shown that she cannot resolve issues through normal diplomatic channels. Instead she merely resorts to heavy-hand tactics at the frontier. The behaviour of the Spanish authorities is unacceptable, uneuropean and illegal." '