Port of Dover

Prentice you could say the same in reverse. Most of the French that we know have travelled to Britain several times and they actually like it. My previous doctor, now retired used to travel regularly to Scotland or Ireland for the fishing. Several of them worked fruit picking during their college holidays.In many way the French and the British are not so different.

I do wonder though, how many UK citizens, resident elsewhere in Europe are holidaying in the UK at the moment. We haven't been back for about 5 years.

Mamie

Prentice Dinahmo and I live in different parts of France. If we say we are seeing fewer British tourists then I think you could do us the courtesy of believing us.

Careful Mamie someone might pop up and tell us that we shouldn't be critical of the UK.

Off to Souillac tonight for a jazz festival. It doesn't start until 21h15 so should be relatively cool

17:10Whitewavemark2

Probably be quicker on a dingy just get half way across the channel where Border Force will be waiting to pick you up no worries about passport control and a nice pizza any topping you desire when you arrive what could be better

Urmstongran

Well I just Googled the situation. Freight and tourist traffic is now free flowing into the Port.

?

You forgot to mention that there are still delays of 3-4 hours to get to Dover and Folkestone.

Prentice Dinahmo and I live in different parts of France. If we say we are seeing fewer British tourists then I think you could do us the courtesy of believing us.

They travel on the train and drive from Folkestone to Dover. Seems logical to me.

Well I just Googled the situation. Freight and tourist traffic is now free flowing into the Port.

?

Maudi

16:53Mamie

What a joke the French customs officers are then if and that's a big if, its true.

And how do you think the British border force get to France?

Perhaps they borrow an immigrant dingy.

Maudi

16:53Mamie

What a joke the French customs officers are then if and that's a big if, its true.

You mean they can't teleport?

What an oversight, eh? Bl**dy French

We did not do that Maudi
In fact with our children and luggage packed into our car we barely had room for the teabags.

In 2020 before Brexit conditions took effect, the French authorities suggested that more infrastructure was needed at Dover and said it could be achieved for £33m.

The U.K. government rejected the suggestion.

17:03Prentice

You are not supposed to take any meat, fish or dairy into France.

16:53Mamie

What a joke the French customs officers are then if and that's a big if, its true.

It will benefit Britain and France to try and improve things.

Dinahmo I suppose we can all check on the Internet as to how many British people enjoy holidays in France.I believe it will be a lot.They do spend money too.In Paris alone it must be a quite an amount. We only ever took teabags and sauces on camping holidays, there are shops on the campsite for everything else and we also ate in cafes and spent money in many venues as people will still do today.

I’ve said it once, but here it is again. This time from BBC News.

‘UK government 'refused French passport booth plea'

A French MP has claimed the British government rejected a proposal to double the number of passport booths given to the French Police in Dover a few months ago.

Pierre-Henri Dumont, Republican MP for Calais, also said the traffic jams at the port were because of Brexit.

He tweeted: "No need to blame French authorities for the traffic jams in Dover that’s an aftermath of Brexit. We have to run more and longer checks."

Dumont also said yesterday the Port of Dover was “too small” and there were too few kiosks due to lack of space.

The chief executive of the Port of Dover, Doug Bannister, has said that in a post-Brexit environment "there will be increased transaction times at the border" but also said the port had created more capacity.

The BBC has asked the Department for Transport for a response.

It’s always somebody else’s fault isn’t it. Never the fault of the people that told the electorate that voting leave wouldn’t cause problems. Johnson, Bannon, Farage, Cummings.

Prentice

Dinahmo Every time we have a camping holiday in France the campsites are full of British families.From Brittany to the South of France.
There are also vast numbers of British tourists in Paris itself and Disney Paris.
I like France very much, and is a short hop to get there, which is part of the attraction.

I have no doubt that they are. And how many of them stocked up on food in the UK before leaving? It certainly happened when my friends (all in their 70s now) had school aged children.

I can't say that I've seen many Brits where I live - rather more Dutch and Belgians and even some Germans now.

volver

Nightsky2

Zonne

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.

Actually Zonne I was fully aware that this all kicked off very early on Friday morning when the French didn’t turn up for work. I believe they blamed it on a “ critical incident “ which apparently turned out to have been a very minor incident. Woefully inadequate staffing by French border officials was to blame for the hugh pileup’s.

Their country. They can do what they like.

And they do.

Maudi The French customs officers got stuck in traffic like everyone else. Was your unpleasant remark about the French helpful to the discussion?

Britain chose to have passports checked and stamped, not France. I feel more sorry for the lorry drivers who are often stuck for days with no facilities on the M20. They must be desperate to get home or to get their job done.

Of course, if brexit hadn’t happened we wouldn’t be having this conversation would we. Because people could have just gone on holiday in the same way they’ve done for years.

I've travelled with my motorhome on numerous ferries including Dover and never had a problem, even managed to get on earlier sailings but I would never travel on one of the busiest holiday getaway days of the year and that's what's caused the problem sheer volume of traffic, just like at Christmas at the airports there always seems to be problems and delays. Whether its the French playing silly buggers your guess is as good as mine. Probably.

Urmstongran

Maybe the way to counter the delays on the UK side of the channel is to stop allowing the French customs and immigration police to do their checks on UK soil. Tell them to do whatever checks they want to on French soil, then they can block their own ports and roads up.

Actually I really don’t know why they are this side.
Anyone know?

So that people don't have to queue twice. It was easy in the pre Brexit days - passports checked at Eurotunnel by the Brits, the French then looked at us and on we went. Straight off at the other end without hindrance and up on to the autoroute.

Same in reverse - Brits and French on the French side and straight off onto the M20.

The poor lorry drivers have been dealing with this for months now, and operation Brock has become a common sight on the M20.

The extra holiday traffic is making it ten times worse.