I must have a guilty face

rosalan

rosalan

Joined
Jul 12, 2013
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Location
The City of Henlow
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26,906
MH
Adria Supreme
Exp
Since 1980
Leaving France via the tunnel, we were directed to the French xray machine and to be honest I was nervous because I had to drive into a guided channel, get out of the vehicle with the engine still running and handbrake off. The van was then dragged through the xray and bomb detector slowly. Then the British directed us to their shed and searched the van physically and seamed surprised the French had xrayed us. then a nice girl checked our gas was off, it was. All this followed French ignoring our passports and the British not ignoring them.
what slightly bothered me, none of the other vans seemed to go through this process.
 
We have also gone through an xray machine, but at one of the ports.
 
Obviously dodgy looking. :D

Now if you had an honest looking face like mine they would just wave you through. :pinocchio:

Richard

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rosalan said:
Leaving France via the tunnel, we were directed to the French xray machine and to be honest I was nervous because I had to drive into a guided channel, get out of the vehicle with the engine still running and handbrake off. The van was then dragged through the xray and bomb detector slowly. Then the British directed us to their shed and searched the van physically and seamed surprised the French had xrayed us. then a nice girl checked our gas was off, it was. All this followed French ignoring our passports and the British not ignoring them.
what slightly bothered me, none of the other vans seemed to go through this process.
Click to expand...
well you do look like Boris Johnson
 
We went through Sunday morning and all we had was the stick waved around the steering wheel.
 
I got pulled at the Calais side of the tunnel on Friday returning home , it was my first time there so wasn’t to sure what to expect , passport lady says go into the big shed where the British control want to see you , so I drives over and get directed into the shed , I shook my head and said no , then I pointed to the height warning , 3.5m ( I am 3.4m & thought I ain’t going in there ) I parked up outside the shed , I think he was looking for illegals

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Ha, been there.... in the race car.. Only all the door cards and side panels were rivetted aluminium. they had a sense of humour failure over them not being removable to check what was in the doors/ wings.
I had sniffer dogs in it and everything :o
I ended up digging out some old photos to prove the panelling was fitted well before I'd even left the UK. :D
 
We've been checked 2 or 3 times over the years but never put through the x-ray machine, possibly because we have dogs on board. :p I'm sure once it was simply so they could have an excuse to have a cuddle of our dogs! :giggle:

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It's been a while since I went through, but the last 4 times I got every possible inspection including drug sniffing dogs, explosive checks, customs checks, passports and personal interviews about my travel plans...

I put it down to the fact I never booked return trips, travelled regularly and dressed like a tramp.

Someone with money who had no plans to return to his job and is comfortable in scruffy jeans and tshirts and drove a lovely motorhome seemed to make no sense to them.

I was always friendly and had some lovely chats with the staff. The questions usually turned very quickly from the official to the just interested...
 
keithchesterfield2 said:
I would have thought just stepping in the door would have found that many people without the need for an xray..

?
Click to expand...
The industrial x ray capable of penetrating the engine block etc would make sure they all died from radiation sickness and would not need processing?????
 
We were checked leaving the UK, one man asked us a few questions with his female partner doing the checkboxes, he asked us such gems as "do you have any knives?"... "yes, in the drawers in the kitchen area", then got into our tiny van, had a look in 2 overhead lockers - one of the smallest which just holds tea/coffee and another; didn't look in the bathroom even though the door was shut and that was it.
 
We got a proper search in Dunkirk on Monday. Well I say proper, the guy was having a hissy fit because he couldn't see what was under the raised bed, and I just shrugged, his mate was outside looking in the garage.. Then he wanted access to the gas locker from inside , again, I told him he needed to talk to his mate going round doing all the lockers .

No problem with them looking though , keeps the pond life out.
 
On our way out to Europe, via the Tunnel, in August we were pulled out of the queue by British customs officers.

Everyone had to get out of the m/h, including our dog, and the m/h had a fairly cursory search, lockers and cupboards opened but nothing removed. Explosives detectors were used and we were questioned, “is this your own vehicle, what is your home address, where are you heading, how long will you be away”.

All done very professionally and with good humour.

No problem as far as we were concerned.

Over the last few years we have become used to being “pulled” at airports as my wife has two artificial knees. They always set off the metal detectors. With the advent of full body scanners it is becoming less of a problem.

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On one of our first trips on the tunnel years ago now, we got talking to a polish van driver and when the proceed light came on we rushed to go but he said hold on , don't be in the first few or you will get pulled in, we went anyway and got pulled , he waved to us as he passed later :doh: :doh: .
Anyway took this on board and never rush now and very rarely been pulled again.
 
I always use he right hand lane coming out of Dover, the nearside lane is closest to the inspection sheds, although there is a crossover place.
Got pulled once, handed passports over, wrong one she said, I'm animal welfare.
She checked the dog's details, good to see it being done.
 
I got the X-Ray treatment when it was quite new and they were training more people to use it, not the quickest event in those circumstances but you have to just smile sweetly so they don't make it any worse/slower!

It's amazing what they can 'identify', I had my two large dogs with me and they asked if something they had spotted just behind the front seats was dog food, indeed, it was a part used 15kg sack of dry dog food!
 
I've never quite trusted the sniffer wand they use. I got checked a few years ago in my Defender, I had been handling explosives (legally) and had used and new shot gun cartridges in the passenger foot well and got waved on once they had used the wand. I was expecting and not looking forward to having to give a lengthy explanation and show my licences.
 
1ten said:
I've never quite trusted the sniffer wand they use. I got checked a few years ago in my Defender, I had been handling explosives (legally) and had used and new shot gun cartridges in the passenger foot well and got waved on once they had used the wand. I was expecting and not looking forward to having to give a lengthy explanation and show my licences.
Click to expand...

Perhaps they were using the wacky backy wand on you - I've heard they can spot a 'user' from 100 metres.

?

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Were you dressed as priests?!?

DC090170-A846-4B78-B0B7-842E40E5B26F.jpeg
 

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