Port of Dover

Urmstongran

Probably make a big difference if the French had turned up for work first thing this morning.

Absolutely agree, a lot of lazy French b……having a Saturday morning lie-in.?.

We have travelled a couple of times to the UK this year via our local port of Caen Ouistreham to Portsmouth. Coming home you can easily see how much longer the process now is in border control on the French side.
They have to scan the passports, stamp those of the UK residents and check our resident's cards whilst not stamping our passports.
Driving up to the beach for a swim this morning it was obvious that a full boat had come in and we were passing UK registered cars on the other carriageway for at least half an hour.
It's busy. Brexit involves longer checks.

Prentice

Those comments do sound very spiteful Volver
It is certainly not ridiculous and certainly not their fault.
If I vote, as I will in the next General Election for the Labour Party, and they do some unpopular or disastrous things will I be blamed for giving them my vote?
Annoyance should be saved for politicians, they are the ones who ask the people for their votes and explain why they should vote that way.
The referendum on the question of either staying or leaving the EU was for the voters to decide, which they did.
How it was implemented is most decidedly not what the people have to do.
It is not a right wing versus left wing issue either, nor a wealthy versus poorer issue.Voters from all walks of life had different opinions on this matter and voted accordingly.
My own family and friends and social groups all voted in different ways, as they are entitled to do.I have only come across insults on this subject on social media.I do dislike this attitude that anyone who votes differently is a fool, it is a very immature thing.

No, not spiteful. Realistic.

I am and will always be a Remainer. Those of us with two brain cells to rub together understood what Brexit meant. We understood that the rubbish we were being fed by the politicians was just that - rubbish.

So I can feel sad that we have such an uneducated and gullible electorate that they really thought that everything would be fine and we'd be better off out of the EU. But I can't say, oh never mind, lets blame the politicians and the poor Leave voters have nothing to feel bad about. Because if I knew the Leave politicians were lying, if 16 million or so people knew they were lying, why didn't everyone? Because they are gullible and politically incapable of making good decisions, that's why.

This isn't a general election where you vote for a political party whose policies match your opinions best and get another go in 5 years. There is no going back from this. A daft electorate who fell for the Leaver lies have ruined the country and I will never forgive them.

What's immature is thinking that the population of this country made an informed decision.

Incidentally I know one Leave voter and she has changed her opinion. Most of my friends and family had more sense than be taken in.

The French did not make this problem so cannot be blamed. Why should they fall over themselves to make it easy for people who do blame them? A bit of goodwill on both sides would do no harm, and IMO it should start from this side, as it's basically a British problem.

I think the French have tried to warn the British government and to suggest that more booths are put in Prentice.
I can't imagine that the bile and venom of the British press and some MPs exactly encourages a spirit of co-operation though.

Prentice

volver

If they chose to do that they would be harming tourism in France in a very big way, harming their economy for years.

Do you think so?

I'm not sure that's true...

People really do have an odd view of the world. We're really not that important.

Yes I do think so, if the situation was allowed to run on unchecked, although I believe it will not do.
A huge amount of tourism in the holiday season goes to France from UK.
It is nothing to do with feeling important.

But we asked them to treat us as a third country and that's what they are doing. Stamping our little British feet and telling them to do better is not an option any more. We really are not that important, and the sooner we realise that in all things the better.

I don't think that British tourism is a huge deal for the industry here anymore. Covid has meant that far more French people stay in France for their holidays. Like last year we now see far more Dutch and Belgians in Normandy. I do know a lot of people, particularly young people, who will not go to the UK now passports are required instead of the ID cards that everyone has. It is all very sad.

Yes living in the south, it is noticeable how few foreign registration cars there are now.

Could this have an effect for next year, will numbers drop off? Will some think twice now?
Why go to France, if you know this will happen? I do think it will hit areas around the French Ports economy.
Possibly non EU countries will get more Tourisum the likes of Turkey, Bulgaria?
Personally, I wouldn't go this time of the year, its always been historically busy at the Ports at the end of the School year.
I live near a Continental Port, I have witnessed major jams, caused by French disputes/strikes having a knock on effect.
So not really a surprise.

vegansrock

It’s all the fault of the French obvs - they’re treating us like a non EU country !!!

Isn't it always the fault of the French??

Absolutely agree, a lot of lazy French b……having a Saturday morning lie-in.?.

It started on Friday…

It’s this attention to detail that landed us in this mess.

Whilst I can, on a generous day, understand why people fell for the Brexit rhetoric, I really cannot understand those of the electorate who have seen the Brexit effects and still believe it is a grand idea.

I fully expect to get flamed for this but I blame the remainers who couldn’t be arsed to vote.
I am sick of people whinging about Brexit when they couldn’t be bothered to go along and put their X in the box.

Skomer

I fully expect to get flamed for this but I blame the remainers who couldn’t be arsed to vote.
I am sick of people whinging about Brexit when they couldn’t be bothered to go along and put their X in the box.

How many people was that Skomer?

As Ayse said above... It’s endemic, blaming everyone else for problems.

Anyone here not bother to vote? Guess not. Nice urban myth, no basis in fact whatsoever. Unless someone wants to prove me wrong?

There is no doubt that the queues at Dover are caused by Brexit. It seems so obvious that it is hardly worth stating.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2022/jul/23/travel-chaos-live-latest-updates-dover-queues-uk-france-border

Plenty of European tourists around here where I live, in Franc

France

I guess the chaos at Heathrow is the fault of the French as well.

Re Dover. I wonder how things are at Portsmouth, Poole or Harwich? I know Dover-Calais is the shortest crossing but I do wonder why so many people choose this god-forsaken route. It's prone to overcrowding and delays and pitches you up in one of the least attractive areas of France. Also, why pick the very start of the school holidays? Bound to be busy, plus container wagons crossing back for ’le weekend’.

Actually a friend texted last night “Brittany Ferries from Portsmouth was a breeze!”

Maybe shunt all cars with an EU sticker into a car park and let all the UK cars go through first! The French would soon sort things out then.

Given that all the cars with an EU sticker are being delayed because of the paperwork required for all those without one, maybe we should just do it the other way round?

You obviously missed my posts upthread Ug. I explained the differences on the Portsmouth Caen crossing as a passenger earlier in the year and as someone driving towards the cars coming off this morning!
In summary - longer and slower, but the volume is nowhere near as great.

Oh and the longer crossings are much more expensive. It works for us because we live half an hour from Ouistreham and have a member's card.

Over 50 ferries a day leave Dover Urmstongran, and 6 a day leave Portsmouth. I haven’t checked Poole or Harwich, but it’s not 50 I would guess (and I don’t think ferries from Harwich go to France, don’t they go to Holland?).
In any case, surely if the problem was with arrivals in France it would matter which port in the UK you were leaving, you’d still have to have your passport checked at the same French ports. Or am I missing something?

Poole has a couple of crossings a day as does Newhaven. Your passport is checked by the ferry company in Portsmouth, but when I came back via Newhaven in the spring they had introduced a border force check as well. In Dieppe and Ouistreham the checks and stamping are done by French border force.
The Brittany ferries are big and offloading is fairly straightforward but the Newhaven boats can be slow if you (as my grandchildren say) "get stuck up the 'ole". ?
I love the Newhaven crossing though. Reminds me of my first ever visit to France.

Thé Dieppe/Dover ferry is a lot cheaper than the Calais / New Haven. Plus there are a lot fewer crossings.