Sir Roger Gale, the MP for Herne Bay & Sandwich in Kent, said that huge traffic backlogs caused by the Entry/Exit System (EES) could prevent emergency services from helping people stuck in their cars during hot weather.
The government has announced that more French guards will be deployed at border points in the hope this will help clear delays caused by extra checks required under the EES.
Doug Bannister, chief executive of the Port of Dover, Europe’s busiest ferry port, has warned that its modelling showed there would be “severe congestion” over the summer, with around 12,000 vehicles a day expected.
Sir Roger Gale told The Times that the extra officers promised were “not adequate” in dealing with what was to come and that the system should be suspended.
He said: “If you have elderly people, children and dogs in 12-hour queues with no lavatory facilities, inadequate water supplies, somebody will die, somebody will have a heart attack. I’m not overegging it. This is the stark reality.
“How do you get an ambulance through traffic jams like that? People will say, ‘oh Roger Gale is being alarmist’, but it is because Roger Gale is alarmed. I don’t want this to happen. Put the system on ice, get the technology right, make it work and then introduce it properly.”
France’s individual kiosks and tablets which are used to take fingerprints and photographs have had issues connecting to the central database that collects records across the continent.
However, British passengers must still supply additional information when presenting their passports in order to create an "EES profile", adding even more time to every manual passenger check.
Extra checks were temporarily suspended by French police during the May Bank Holiday - but only after queues had stretched to four-and-a-half hours long.
Traffic modelling from the Port of Dover indicates that delays of between six and eight hours are possible in the worst-case scenario.
Drivers have been urged not to turn up more than two hours before any departure, and to stick to the M20 and A2 to prevent gridlock in other areas.
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Extra toilets, water stations and refreshment points are being installed along the main routes to the port, and extra traffic marshals are being deployed around Dover.
The Department for Transport has agreed to use Lydden Hill Race Circuit, a rallycross venue about ten miles from the port, as a holding area for traffic should any major disruption occur this summer.
Operation Brock, a traffic system which creates a dedicated lane for Europe-bound lorries to queue, forcing other vehicles to travel at a reduced speed, will be introduced on the M20 this week.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is set to meet Apostolos Tzitzikostas, the European commissioner for sustainable transport and tourism, on Monday to raise her concerns about the EES system.
Ms Alexander said: “We are doing everything in our power to keep holidaymakers and hauliers moving, and we are grateful to the French authorities for their close collaboration in helping to minimise disruption.
“We are also investing over £20 million to help improve vehicle flow and increase passport booth capacity at Dover to help reduce delays in future years.”
Regarding Sir Roger Gale’s comments, she said: “This kind of scaremongering helps no one, and it fails to take account of the extensive preparations that have been underway for months.”