Eurotunnel screen of pet passports - Anyone had issues

[meanders]

Friends of our's (not motorhomers) had difficulty bringing one of their dogs back through Eurotunnel late August reporting as

Piper has successfully travelled on her passport twice before, but this time when we got to Calais, the woman at Eurotunnel said it was her first time and she could not travel. We politely pointed out the stamps from the other years showing that she had been back and forward and she said because the vet stamp was missing one one page at the start Piper could not come back in. The vet signature was there and address and I rang our vet and she offered to fax through anything needed to prove Piper was who she said she was. This was rejected.

The only option was to go to a French vet in Calais, and pay 50 Euros for a French passport. It must have been some kind of a scam as while we were there it happened to three other people and we weren’t there long. The vet had acrylic nails, did not examine Piper and even wrote her type down wrong in the passport, (in French, but we speak it) plus left loads of things out and did not get me to sign it as the owner. Nonetheless, we were waved through with this Mickey Mouse item with no problem at all.

Anyone else had issues as a FOI request on DEFRA reveals that there has been an increase in animals refused entry by Eurotunnel but 'not significant'.

We returned with two cats a couple of weeks ago with no issues.

 

[Mikeco]

We had trouble a few years ago when Madame flatly refused to accept the passport, which they had accepted at least twice in previous years.
The reason was that a few years earlier we asked our vet for a new passport as it was full, instead of issuing a new one he inserted some new pages.
We just went down to the ferries and paid for a single trip and the passport was accepted.

 

[tribalbrit]

Came through on Saturday, didn't even scan the micro chip.

 

[Wilberforceftw]

1st time in July. No issues at all. We scanned our dog and off we went.

 

[Ridgeway]

Friends of our's (not motorhomers) had difficulty bringing one of their dogs back through Eurotunnel late August reporting as Anyone else had issues as a FOI request on DEFRA reveals that there has been an increase in animals refused entry by Eurotunnel but 'not significant'.

We returned with two cats a couple of weeks ago with no issues.

What value would the French passport (i assume it's meant to mean EU passport) have anyway ? There needs to be a validated paper trail from rabies jab to microchip so the only way the new passport has a value is that it relied upon the original passport to validate it, something is wrong here.

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[keithchesterfield2]

I might have read the initial post wrongly but did, or did not, the Pet Passport presented have a page damaged or something was missing from it ?
If so the Passport is considered invalid and would not be accepted.
Bad mouthing the Vet in Calais does the poster no credit.

 

[Potty]

Have used the tunnel with dogs since the 1st year passports were issued and have personally never had a problem but did see a couple one year who had a problem with one of their dogs’ passport. Apparently the vet hadn’t signed the stamp. They were told to phone their vet and get a signature faxed over. It was quite early in the morning and the vet would not be open.If this ever happens to you, remember most vets are on call 24hours a day or have an answer machine.

What worries me about the tunnel, and I believe some ferries, is how easy it would be to bring in an unvaccinated dog. I have contacted DEFRA about this but never got a reply.

 

[aria]

We came through the tunnel last month with the dog. No problems.
Brittany Ferries have a very useful checklist for pet passports.

A family in front of me at pet reception did not get through. They had the rabies injection for the dog 3 days before it was 12 weeks old. The guy was adamant that his vet said it was fine, 3 days made no difference! That didn't wash with the lady who told him to get another rabies vaccination, then wait 21 days before travel.

 

[Southdowners]

Surely the stamps in the passport relate to the worming which is required to enter the UK. I can’t see how a missing stamp on an earlier page would be relevant with regard to worming. The new passport would have had none of the stamps.

I can’t imagine that it could be a scam. Would a professional vet and customs officer risk their jobs for €50? They’d loose their jobs and face prosecution if found out out.

 

[Zigisla]

One of our dogs has 2 microchips. Long story!! Both are entered into the microchip section and there are notes in the back about where they are and why. This time through, the lady gave me the scanner and I told her that the dog has 2. "YES and I NEED BOTH"!! Never have they done this before and never so miserable either. Probable didn't help as I scanned the same one again. Then she went on and on about why the vet should have issued 2. Obviously we didn't entertain this, just smiled happily and took the dogs away in order to speed up the process. Didn't mention that a "Saturday girl" at Pets at Home had bodged the microchips years earlier and nothing to do with the vet.
I think I would have stood my ground on this and demanded to see Supervisor etc. and then phoned DEFRA there and then.

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[meanders]

Bad mouthing the Vet in Calais does the poster no credit.

I'm unsure how our good friends bad mouthed anyone. They observed that the animal was not examined, the 'vet' had nails that would be generally frowned on by a professional body and she misidentified the breed. Having three other people there in a short window would cause me to also conclude that it might be some sort of scam, especially given the 50 Euro price. Our cat passports cost considerably more than that!

I should also point out that this was not posted on a public forum until I took the personal details out and put it on here to see if there was a more general issue that might need to be flagged up to DEFRA given how many Funsters travel with pets. I'm with Potty with their concluding paragraph.

What worries me about the tunnel, and I believe some ferries, is how easy it would be to bring in an unvaccinated dog. I have contacted DEFRA about this but never got a reply.

 

[Potty]

Surely the stamps in the passport relate to the worming which is required to enter the UK. I can’t see how a missing stamp on an earlier page would be relevant with regard to worming. The new passport would have had none of the stamps.

I can’t imagine that it could be a scam. Would a professional vet and customs officer risk their jobs for €50? They’d loose their jobs and face prosecution if found out out.

The stamps on the passport refer to the rabies jab, as well as the worming.

I don’t think the people in Pet Control are Customs Officers and not employed by the French Government. Why would the French Government pay people to enforce a UK requirement?

People should make sure they know what is required and that their vet has completed the passport correctly.

 

[keithchesterfield2]

I presume the Pet Passport Staff decided that the Passport was rejected because of one or more of the following reasons shown below -

 

[treetops1]

Never had a problem.
Best stick to the same vets ,home and away .you know it’s an important document ,better filled in by people you trust to avoid the stress of being having a passport rejected .

 

[Southdowners]

The stamps on the passport refer to the rabies jab, as well as the worming.

I don’t think the people in Pet Control are Customs Officers and not employed by the French Government. Why would the French Government pay people to enforce a UK requirement?

People should make sure they know what is required and that their vet has completed the passport correctly.

Granted the pet control people might not be actual customs officers. However I suspect they are paid by the French authorities otherwise the department would be staffed by UK people.

For it to be a scam the vet would have had to be in on it. Is a professional person be willing to loose their job and be prosecuted for being involved? I think not.

I doubt the missing stamp related to the rabies vaccination. If it had the animal would have had to have to be vaccinated and then wait the required time.

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[Potty]

Granted the pet control people might not be actual customs officers. However I suspect they are paid by the French authorities otherwise the department would be staffed by UK people.

For it to be a scam the vet would have had to be in on it. Is a professional person be willing to loose their job and be prosecuted for being involved? I think not.

I doubt the missing stamp related to the rabies vaccination. If it had the animal would have had to have to be vaccinated and then wait the required time.

I doubt they are paid for by the French authorities, more likely to be employees of Eurotunnel.

 

[emjaiuk]

They are Eurotunnel employees providing service for Eurotunnel. Any ferry company allowing anybody or anything into the UK which is prohibited IS liable to penalties, hence they check that, in this case, pets, are compliant with UK entry regulations. Nothing whatsoever to do with the French.

Whilst there have been over the years many ways in which ferry staff have enriched themselves, I would be surprised if Pet Passports were one of them, since the regulations are so clearly defined. The most I would have thought might happen is that if there was a genuine PP problem, then staff may recommend a particular vet in return for commission

Malcolm