British vets have been chasing lorries down motorways to Dover due to the "pure hell" of Brexit paperwork checks in Calais, MPs heard. Toby Ovens, from Broughton Transport, told a business committee that post-Brexit shipping is a costly, logistic nightmare. He showed off a bundle of papers with 26 stamps—compared to one sheet before Brexit. "I've had vets chasing lorries down the M4 because they have suddenly realised they didn't put the stamp in the right place on a piece of paper," Ovens said. Ovens shared his worst story: a truck full of frozen meat held in Calais for 27 days because of a "paperwork error." This delay cost his customer £16,000 for drivers to wait beside the refrigerated truck. Trucks were held before Christmas as Calais inspectors refused to accept new UK BSE (mad cow disease) clearance paperwork. Eventually, a meeting in Chippenham swapped old certificates for new ones to free the trucks. These problems reflect warnings from exporters and hauliers before Brexit, who feared such costs and delays. Talks between UK and EU negotiators will start in London next week to remove this red tape. Liam Byrne, chair of the business committee, said, "Red tape was costing the UK an extra £8.4bn. Goods trade is down 18% on five years ago, food and drink down 24%." The UK and EU will hold a second meeting in Brussels to discuss a sanitary and phytosanitary agreement to ease exports. Tom Bradshaw, president of the National Farmers’ Union, pointed out farming differences, like how UK oat farmers use some toxins allowed in the UK but not the EU. Bradshaw asked, "Does this require a transition agreement?" Sean McGuire, director for Europe at the Confederation of British Industry, added the EU has been "very very lukewarm" on other trade issues like mutual recognition of professional qualifications.