Huge queues again. No reason given.

[John Barrett]

Anyone stuck in this?

Calais: Ferry companies apologise for long waits

Travellers returning home from their summer breaks in France report lengthy queues at the French port.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Larrynwin]

Last day of kids hols so all back home, back to skool on Monday.

 

[PaddyM]

French authorities playing up again , we were told that there would be repercussions for us leaving the wholly undemocratic EU cartel and petty time wasting by governmental departments is easy and low cost .
O well if it makes them feel better they can crack on .
Compare that to my recent experience ( I.e yesterday ) of the Spanish border officials at Bilbao , efficient , courteous and professional or as I describe it , grown up .

 

[MichaelT]

French authorities playing up again , we were told that there would be repercussions for us leaving the wholly undemocratic EU cartel and petty time wasting by governmental departments is easy and low cost .
O well if it makes them feel better they can crack on .
Compare that to my recent experience ( I.e yesterday ) of the Spanish border officials at Bilbao , efficient , courteous and professional or as I describe it , grown up .

I believe it was UK border control!

 

[Grasmere9]

UK border control was shocking a week ago when we returned. 5 booths open huge queues.

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[BikerGraham]

Left Newcastle on Friday through U.K. Through U.K. customs in minutes. They checked the gas was off and did check inside the van. But very nice to deal with and speedy.

When got off at Ijmuiden on Saturday, obviously passports hat the be checked and stamped. But again very pleasant to deal with. Never entered the van to check anything or covid checks. Just asked purpose of visit and length of stay. Again about 1 minute going through. Although as everyone was getting off the ferry together it did take about an hour all told. Didn’t think that was too bad.

Thing to bare in mind as it’s known as the party ship. They were breathalysing a random selection. Cars and motorhomes but didn’t seem to be the motorbikes.

 

[Brains]

French authorities playing up again , we were told that there would be repercussions for us leaving the wholly undemocratic EU cartel and petty time wasting by governmental departments is easy and low cost .
O well if it makes them feel better they can crack on .
Compare that to my recent experience ( I.e yesterday ) of the Spanish border officials at Bilbao , efficient , courteous and professional or as I describe it , grown up .

Except it's not the French Authorities.
It's the British Authorities not having enough staff on duty to deal with the (totally predictable) volume.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62783358

 

[Grasmere9]

Except it's not the French Authorities.
It's the British Authorities not having enough staff on duty to deal with the (totally predictable) volume.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62783358

Exactly this...through French customs super efficiently both times. It was the UK border control that was shocking.

 

[Niall B]

It took longer for them to check my gas was off on Friday than it did to get through French border control.

 

[PaddyM]

Absolutely not my experience in France ( St Malo) last month , French Border control were achingly slow , it’s the 21st Century digital age , why do you think they are rubber stamping passports ? It’s childish revenge .

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[MichaelT]

Absolutely not my experience in France ( St Malo) last month , French Border control were achingly slow , it’s the 21st Century digital age , why do you think they are rubber stamping passports ? It’s childish revenge .

Why revenge, we are no longer part of the club so are treated like all other countries just like we look at everyone passport who enter UK and stamp them, in fact when I visited US, Jamaica and others I got a stamp. Unfortunately its just a fact of life now and we have to put up with it.

 

[MattR]

News report suggesting that the design of the port area isn't adequate for so many checks.

Travellers face SIX-HOUR wait at Calais queuing for ferries to Britain https://mol.im/a/11178437

Our channel tunnel crossing was delayed 10 days ago. French checks were pretty quick. The big delay was due to only having one person checking gas was off. In that situation, we waited an hour or so as traffic filtered to one single check point.

 

[PaddyM]

EU statement on eve of leaving EU
“ Britain we respect your democratic decision to leave the EU and in some ways applaud your bravery and decision making .
At no time in the future will we ever jeopardise the close and intrinsic bonds that link our countries .
We remain a brotherhood / sisterhood of nations though no longer bound by legislation or custom .
We wish you well in your future and look forward to working with you towards a peaceful and prosperous Europe . “

Obviously the above is a fiction that I made up but wouldn’t it of been groundbreaking if it had been so ?

 

[Verteuil Man]

On the BBC Teletext both DFDS and P&O are apologizing for the delays. They said was caused by UK border control. The say to wait is down to 45 minutes.

 

[scousebird]

We've just got on the shuttle at Calais. 20 minutes to get through French customs and 26 minutes to get through UK customs.

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[Wack]

Last day of kids hols so all back home, back to skool on Monday.

Monday,there's at least 2 days of teacher training to get through before they can go back

 

[Hawkstone]

UK border control was shocking a week ago when we returned. 5 booths open huge queues.

When we came back a few weeks ago, via the tunnel, we were already delayed. I was timing the UK border control…yes I was that bored. Most quues were about 30 seconds…..our queue with the caravans and motorhomes had a trainee. Went from 1 minute to 3 and a 1/2. Doesn’t sound much when you write it down but blimey doesn’t it cause huge delays. I appreciate they need to train new staff but not on one of the busiest days and when people are already delayed. Nuts in my view. Ironically the French customs barely glanced up and didn’t even ask for us to take our glasses off

 

[Coastal Cruiser.]

Nobody has mentioned the lane marked up for caravans and Motorhomes that seem to attract dummies in cars who cannot seem to understand what the picture means

 

[scousebird]

Nobody has mentioned the lane marked up for caravans and Motorhomes that seem to attract dummies in cars who cannot seem to understand what the picture means

There were lots of staff directing traffic at the tunnel today so that didn't happen.

 

[Rob Turner]

I don’t know what all the fuss is about, it’s the same every year.

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[Verteuil Man]

I don’t know what all the fuss is about, it’s the same every year.

It gives the Twitterarty something to complain about.

 

[busbuddy]

Last day of kids hols so all back home, back to skool on Monday.

Loads of schools are already back, some started back the Thursday before bank holiday how weird is that

 

[Larrynwin]

Loads of schools are already back, some started back the Thursday before bank holiday how weird is that

Makes sense to stagger hols in different areas to spread the load.

 

[Brains]

Absolutely not my experience in France ( St Malo) last month , French Border control were achingly slow , it’s the 21st Century digital age , why do you think they are rubber stamping passports ? It’s childish revenge .

To ensure you don't overstay the 90 day maximum that you wanted.

Wait until next year when the EITAS visa that were also voted for, come into play.
Then instead of rubber stamps they will be after your fingerprints!

 

[Verteuil Man]

I depends where you are travelling from, but consider crossing from a different port. Come the start of the school hols everyone in the south east heads for Dover. You wait for 6 hours and start the holiday off badly. Go from another port. It might be 2 hours travel to say Portsmouth, but no waiting.

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[ChrisMac]

We came Dunkirk - Dover on 12pm ferry today. We were early, 10am, and no hold ups at all. Van searched twice, no fridge check, and good look at passports tho.

 

[Casper46]

It's usually shortage of UK Border control staff that cause the problem. We got through ok last week but then waited on the slope down to the train for quite a while. We then had the most alarming crossing ever. The driver was testing as a formula one driver we were thrown about inside the motorhome.. Anyone using the tunnel for the first time would think seriously about a second trip.

 

[jongood]

News report suggesting that the design of the port area isn't adequate for so many checks.

Travellers face SIX-HOUR wait at Calais queuing for ferries to Britain https://mol.im/a/11178437

Our channel tunnel crossing was delayed 10 days ago. French checks were pretty quick. The big delay was due to only having one person checking gas was off. In that situation, we waited an hour or so as traffic filtered to one single check point.

its a brand new port at Calais.

 

[Bonsaiman]

Came through the tunnel on Saturday the place was deserted, arrived 2 hrs early (better trip down than expected) put on next available train which was already been called when we reached terminal, straight through both sets of customs no problem, there were only 8 oversized vehicles loaded, straight off the other side, total time from arriving at tunnel to driving off in France 65 minutes - result

 

[TDub49]

What Brains at #7 said for the Calais thing but I wouldn't let the facts spoil the usual tiresome "it's the French, innit" stuff spouted by certain "funsters" hanging on so grimly to the vision of the sunlit uplands.

On the same subject, came back from St Malo yesterday on the 10:30 Brittany and apart from being the first private vehicle off the ferry (only two lorries in front) had a very pleasant experience at Border Control with a very chatty and friendly passport checker, telling us about his workload and the boats they were expecting in over the next few hours. First time I've met a cheerful and talkative border policeman of any nationality.

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