Chunnel and pets.. Would someone explain this to me ? (1 Viewer)

[Jaws]

Just had the usual email drivel from Le Shuttle ..
In is is this statement:

Award winning pet travel

We were crowned 'Best Dog Friendly Carrier' at the Pet Pyjamas Travel Awards 2016. This is the second year running that we've won this award - twice the reason to celebrate!

How on earth can this be ?
They do absolutely NOTHING towards being a pet friendly carrier.
The pet(s) never leave the vehicle they are travelling in !

When I queried the cost of pet travel with them I was told they make NO charges, merely carry the charge for DEFRA who take all the monies raised by pet ticket sales.. So they do not even supply staff in the pet reception area on the continental side .. ( or they just lied which is more likely )

As far as I can work out this is more about who gives the biggest back hander rather than anything else !!

 

[maison]

Can't answer your comment directly but, we like the tunnel because.....

We travel with our dog. It is not locked in the vehicle, on its own, on a noisy car deck for two hours.

The total journey time is about 35 minutes.

Their Pet Passport reception is a very slick, efficient operation, whoever provides the staff. More Pet Friendly than the Channel Ports, in our experience.

Would I cast a vote for them being the Best Dog Friendly Carrier?

No. not really. But just because I can't be bothered.

 

[kcy]

I've been traveling Portsmouth/Santander three years now, kennels are basic but I have my duvet bed and runs on the deck and all the sailors love a nice girl.Ebony X

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[gus-lopez]

On the channel I can't see that they'd have any competition as on the Dunkirk check in the pets are checked by the person doing the vehicle check -in, who gives you the scanner to run over the dog. They don't actually have any 'staff' just to check in pets.

 

[Jaws]

I spose in one way they are per friendly in that the pet will travel in an environment it is used to.. But apart from that.......

 

[maison]

I spose in one way they are per friendly in that the pet will travel in an environment it is used to.. But apart from that.......

You are possibly correct but that, in effect, is the best part of it and good enough for us.

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[Jaws]

And us in a way too, but that hardly constitutes a good service by the chunnel and so the question of how or why they got an award from Pet Pajama remains !

 

[maison]

And us in a way too, but that hardly constitutes a good service by the chunnel and so the question of how or why they got an award from Pet Pajama remains !

Perhaps the competition provides so much less?

Pets left in cars on vehicle decks etc.

 

[barsteward]

And us in a way too, but that hardly constitutes a good service by the chunnel and so the question of how or why they got an award from Pet Pajama remains !

You mean you didn't get any complimentary "Doggy Jim Jams" with your boarding pass
I would complain if I were you John

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[Deleted member 29692]

The pet(s) never leave the vehicle they are travelling in !

That's the point. You stay with them for the entire crossing.

That beats into nothing all the ferry alternatives apart from the pet friendly cabins on the long haul crossings and even those aren't an option if you have more than one pet.

The tunnel is the ONLY properly pet friendly cross channel carrier as far as I can see.

 

[cookie]

and up to last year the cost was only a one-way charge, now its a charge both ways .

I think it went up from £15 to £36

nice little earner for doing not a lot

 

[Deleted member 29692]

and up to last year the cost was only a one-way charge, now its a charge both ways .

I think it went up from £15 to £36

nice little earner for doing not a lot

Not last year. It's been both ways for as long as we've been using it. 3 years at least.

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[TerryL]

Just booked - £18 each way for Jamie

 

[kcy]

That's the point. You stay with them for the entire crossing.

That beats into nothing all the ferry alternatives apart from the pet friendly cabins on the long haul crossings and even those aren't an option if you have more than one pet.

The tunnel is the ONLY properly pet friendly cross channel carrier as far as I can see.

You mean pet smelly cabins, no thanks!

 

[Speve]

It's been both ways for at least the last four years but I do think it's a lot of money for a check in to come home as they don't do anything going out. If it does go to DEFRA as suggested it's another stealth tax.

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[kcy]

On our very first 24hr crossing we tucked Ebony in her kennel, and went up to the lounge for a glass of wine and to sit and watch as we set sail. After about 1/2hr our names were called on the tannoy asking us to go to the main desk. There was a wiggly Ebony and the captain and steward saying she keeps letting herself out and spent the whole time with the crew meeting and greeting the dogs as they came into the kennels.
My fondest memory is of the captain wiggling his bottom like a happy Flatcoated Retriever.
We now take a small padlock to secure her. Yes they get our vote.

 

[Deleted member 29692]

You mean pet smelly cabins, no thanks!

Never used one. I don't really like ferries anyway so it would never be first choice but I did look into it once just to see.

As soon as we found out it was one pet per cabin so we would have to book and pay for 2 cabins to take both dogs that pretty much settled it for me.

Tunnel every time for us

 

[gus-lopez]

Perhaps the competition provides so much less?

Pets left in cars on vehicle decks etc.

That's the point. You stay with them for the entire crossing.

That beats into nothing all the ferry alternatives apart from the pet friendly cabins on the long haul crossings and even those aren't an option if you have more than one pet.

The tunnel is the ONLY properly pet friendly cross channel carrier as far as I can see.

the dog & I can both swim . we aren't moles.

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[Reallyretired]

Tunnel is the only way for us, and we don't mind paying the charge for the dogs, it's peanuts if you're away for a while. If we left the dogs behind in kennels (not that we would) it would cost around £2,000 each time for an eight week trip.

 

[Minxy]

When I queried the cost of pet travel with them I was told they make NO charges, merely carry the charge for DEFRA who take all the monies raised by pet ticket sales.. So they do not even supply staff in the pet reception area on the continental side .. ( or they just lied which is more likely )

As far as I can work out this is more about who gives the biggest back hander rather than anything else !!

That certainly sounds like you've been told b*llocks Jaws - if it was DEFRA charging it would be the same on ALL crossings, be it ferry or chunnel, so if DEFRA get anything it must be less and Eurotunnel who are charging extra to profit from it.

 

[Jaws]

That certainly sounds like you've been told b*llocks Jaws - if it was DEFRA charging it would be the same on ALL crossings, be it ferry or chunnel, so if DEFRA get anything it must be less and Eurotunnel who are charging extra to profit from it.

Been told the same thing a couple of times from different places... though I do agree it does sound like tosh

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[Minxy]

I suppose the most obvious thing to do would be to contact DEFRA and ask them ... if they'll tell you!

 

[Deleted member 29692]

That certainly sounds like you've been told b*llocks Jaws - if it was DEFRA charging it would be the same on ALL crossings, be it ferry or chunnel, so if DEFRA get anything it must be less and Eurotunnel who are charging extra to profit from it.

I've asked the question before as well.

Eurotunnel do maintain that all money collected for pet travel is passed directly to DEFRA.

This is the reason they give as to why you can't pay for it with Tesco, or any other type of, vouchers.

True? Not true? I have no idea. I wasn't worried enough about to question it any further.

 

[Bailey58]

As someone who has never yet taken a pet (but she has the passport) what's the procedure at the port this side? Reading these threads in the past it seemed that with a ferry crossing you took the dog to a pet check-in kiosk where it was scanned but it was mentioned above that it's done at the vehicle check-in for Dunkirk. Was that this side or the Belgium end? And with the shuttle?

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[Deleted member 29692]

As someone who has never yet taken a pet (but she has the passport) what's the procedure at the port this side? Reading these threads in the past it seemed that with a ferry crossing you took the dog to a pet check-in kiosk where it was scanned but it was mentioned above that it's done at the vehicle check-in for Dunkirk. Was that this side or the Belgium end? And with the shuttle?

No checks at all leaving the UK or for that matter crossing any other EU border.

The only check is when returning to the UK and the only reason for it is to ensure you've had the tapeworm treatment administered.

This is not officially part of the Pet Passport scheme and is something Defra insisted on as an addition before they accepted the scheme. Beyond some mildly interesting theories nobody has ever been able to give me a satisfactory answer as to why.

 

[maison]

When checking crossing prices, albeit two years ago, all companies were charging the same for pets, around £32 return I seem to remember.

The way it was described varied between companies....

£32 return journey
£16 per journey (i.e. Single fare)

The net result was that they all charged the same for journeying out and back.

I haven't bothered to check recently as the Tunnel is always our first choice.

 

[Minxy]

When checking crossing prices, albeit two years ago, all companies were charging the same for pets, around £32 return I seem to remember.

The way it was described varied between companies....

£32 return journey
£16 per journey (i.e. Single fare)

The net result was that they all charged the same for journeying out and back.

I haven't bothered to check recently as the Tunnel is always our first choice.

The ferries all cost the same each way for the Dover to Calais/Dunkirk route:

P&O £15
DFDS £15 (£18 Newhaven to/from Dieppe and)
Stena £15

Eurotunnel charges £18 so if, as has been said previously, the charge is set by DEFRA then they ARE making a profit on the cost of £3 a crossing per dog/cat/ferret.

I might just drop them an email and ask them to explain the disparity ...

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[Zigisla]

My question would be, why, if the dog stays with the owner in the car / MH etc and Euro-tunnel do nothing UK side, do we have a charge both ways. I can understand that the pet check at the Calais side has to be paid for, so return yes, but why both ways? If DEFRA man the pet check and ALL the money goes to them anyway, then surely you should pay them at the pet check when you scan your pet to return home. That way the charge will always be the same and no scamming by the carriage operators.

 

[gus-lopez]

My question would be, why, if the dog stays with the owner in the car / MH etc and Euro-tunnel do nothing UK side, do we have a charge both ways. I can understand that the pet check at the Calais side has to be paid for, so return yes, but why both ways? If DEFRA man the pet check and ALL the money goes to them anyway, then surely you should pay them at the pet check when you scan your pet to return home. That way the charge will always be the same and no scamming by the carriage operators.

If they do man the tunnel pet check-in then the question has to be asked why ? as they certainly don't at Dunkirk.

 

[Zigisla]

If they do man the tunnel pet check-in then the question has to be asked why ? as they certainly don't at Dunkirk.

Another very good, but sadly unanswerable questions I fear.

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