The UK government has raised "serious concerns" with Spain about long delays at the border with Gibraltar caused by a rise in vehicle searches.
Gibraltar said Spain had created "deliberate" delays of up to six hours for vehicles travelling to and from the British territory since Friday.
Foreign Secretary William Hague called the Spanish foreign minister on Sunday.
Gibraltar said the delays were "linked" to an artificial reef created to block fishing, but Spain has not commented.
The weekend's delays were not repeated on Monday morning. The Royal Gibraltar Police tweeted there were no queues to leave Gibraltar and a "normal queue" to enter.
Spain disputes UK sovereignty over Gibraltar, a limestone outcrop on the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula, which has been ruled by Britain since 1713.
'Freedom of movement'Gibraltar's Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said Spanish border officers were "just trying to create a delay by pretending to search" vehicles.
He told the BBC Spain was "bullying" Gibraltar in response to the creation of the artificial reef, which was made by placing concrete blocks in the sea on Wednesday and Thursday.
There has been tension between Spain and Gibraltar over fishing rights, and Mr Picardo said the reef had been built to "prevent Spanish fishermen fishing in a manner that is contrary to our law".
Spanish newspaper ABC reported that the Spanish government had made a formal complaint to the British about the work, saying the several dozen spiked concrete blocks could tear fishing nets, scare fish away and cause environmental damage.
On Friday and Saturday, Spanish customs officers stopped thousands of vehicles trying to leave Gibraltar for Spain. On Sunday the delays switched to traffic trying to enter the British territory.
There were delays of nearly six hours for those leaving Gibraltar on Saturday in temperatures of 30C (86F).
A resident of Gibraltar, David Gibbins, told the BBC Saturday's delays had meant the territory - which has a population of under 30,000 - had been "gridlocked".
He said border guards had been "checking every bit of paperwork", which he said did not normally happen.
Gareth Gingell, a member of the activist group Defenders of Gibraltar, said the Guardia Civil had been "only letting one car through about every 30 minutes" on Sunday.
"It's taking about four hours for people to get through," he said.
The Gibraltar government said the delays had affected tourists and thousands of people who go in and out of the territory every day to work.
On Sunday evening, the Foreign Office said that as well as the call between the two foreign ministers, the British ambassador in Madrid had raised concerns with the Spanish deputy foreign minister, and Britain had "registered our protest" with the Spanish ambassador in London.
"Our main concerns at the moment are restoring people's basic right to freedom of movement, and we want to work towards a speedy solution that will help to ease the very difficult situation and humanitarian issues at the border and enable a return to normal operations," said a spokesman.
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