Brexit finally ends channel Crossing

Whitewavemark2

biglouis

Dover being abottleneck for essential goods coming INTO the country is a far more serious consideration to me than a few rich kids being a day late for their ski-ing holiday.

Oh dear!

Oh dear indeed. Having organised so many trips as a teacher in the past- exchanges, work experience, cultural, etc, etc, and yes, ski trips (in my own time, during holidays) - I can assure you that the rich kids don't travel by coach, and go during term.time!

But yes, I agree that essential goods not able to travel to the UK, medicines, essential chemicals, food and parts, etc- is a much much more serious problem.

dayvidg - I can only assume you have never taken a ferry from Dover, and perhaps never to Netherlands- or studied imports and exports, or geography?

Freya5

Perhaps ferries taking more bookings they can manage, greed, along with intransigence of French border control does have much to add to this mix. Wonder how many French have the same problem coming into UK, non I guess, or you never hear about it. Think we just wave them through. Oh the rabid beurocracy of the EU. If they carry on, people will remember there are much nicer, and more welcoming countries we can visit.

What makes you so sure that the French are so eager to visit the UK right now?

Or anyone else for that matter.

We hear of nothing except shortages, inflation, strikes and political chaos in the UK these days.

Why on earth would we want to holiday in Britian?

grandtanteJE65

Freya5

Perhaps ferries taking more bookings they can manage, greed, along with intransigence of French border control does have much to add to this mix. Wonder how many French have the same problem coming into UK, non I guess, or you never hear about it. Think we just wave them through. Oh the rabid beurocracy of the EU. If they carry on, people will remember there are much nicer, and more welcoming countries we can visit.

What makes you so sure that the French are so eager to visit the UK right now?

Or anyone else for that matter.

We hear of nothing except shortages, inflation, strikes and political chaos in the UK these days.

Why on earth would we want to holiday in Britian?

Because the pound is so low against other currencies?
My DD tells me that London is noticeably busy with overseas visitors and it can be quite hard to get a table in a bar or cafe.
Anecdotally quite a few French friends have told me that is why they are going there now.

To all those blaming Brexit for the delays saying this sort of thing didn't happen before, it certainly did. I was amongst a coach load going from Dover about 10 years ago, and we all had to get off the coach and have our passports checked before we were allowed to go. So to say it's Brexits' fault is a load of cobblers but I daresay most of you will disagree.

Caleo

I wonder why old Brits tend to FEEL British and younger Brits tend to FEEL European.

Not all! I'm over 70 and will always feel European.

Delays at Dover due to bad weather, ferry companies and Brexit.

Lack of vegetables due to bad weather and Brexit,

Expensive petrol due to Ukraine war and Brexit.

Fuel bill inflation due to Ukraine war, lack of government strategy and Brexit.

Anybody see the common factor making things worse, that other countries don't have to deal with? Hint: It starts with a B.

Me missvolver, me 👋👋👋

Hazeld

To all those blaming Brexit for the delays saying this sort of thing didn't happen before, it certainly did. I was amongst a coach load going from Dover about 10 years ago, and we all had to get off the coach and have our passports checked before we were allowed to go. So to say it's Brexits' fault is a load of cobblers but I daresay most of you will disagree.

Tell that to No 10 - they say that it is down to Brexit.

GrannyGravy13

Jaxjacky

Seems to have been Dover specifically, no reports of problems at Portsmouth.

My sister and family drove to France yesterday, via the Euro shuttle Folkestone no hold ups, straight through.

Euro shuttle is the best way, imo. Only way we travel to France.

Less environmental impact, faster, pleasant.

Quote "A recent analysis prepared for Eurotunnel estimates that transport via the Chunnel produces 99 times lower greenhouse gases than air transport and 8 times lower than sea ferry alternatives, resulting in an overall saving of 2 million tons of CO2 annually"

Jaxjacky

Me missvolver, me 👋👋👋

That's made me laugh. 😁

Oh dear, all the GNs on here disagreeing with Number 10, who now admit that the Dover queues ARE actually due to BREXIT.

Well said Volver3

I don't disagree with anyone. It is a mess and Brexit is a factor. What drives me nuts is that no one seemed able, or wanted, to judge correctly what was going to happen in the future and plan ahead. Instead of all the bickering and blame, get on and adapt to the situation.

Out of interest, I haven't used Le Shuttle since I lived in London. Can someone tell me please, if you arrive in advance can you still go on an earlier train? And if not, where do they put you to wait?

We had a trouble free journey from Portsmouth to Caen on Sunday.

Why people feel the need to travel via Dover, I have no idea. We have travelled from Oxfordshire to Normandy via Dover and Portamouth. The journey took roughly 10 hours door to door on each route.

The ferry is cheaper going va Dover and the ferry journey is shorter but the driving time ismuch longer and the cost, factoring in motorway tolls, fuel and meal. No different. Go via Portsmouth, a longer more relaxed ferry journey and less driving.

The ferry is cheaper going va Dover and the ferry journey is shorter but the driving time ismuch longer and the cost, factoring in motorway tolls, fuel and meal. No different. Go via Portsmouth, a longer more relaxed ferry journey and less driving

Yes, I agree.
Not every vehicle going via Dover is a coach taking school children on trips.

What is happening with the Tunnel? Are there holdups there?

The French have very limited space to check and stamp passports at Dover, they asked for more space and Dover port said no.
So in true Gallic style they shrugged their shoulders and nothing got done. Faced with a coach full of 50 school children would you get the passports checked in 30 mins? more like an hour.
Same as any third country you have to be identified.

Depends where you are travelling from and where you are going??? And whether you have a dog or dogs.

Joseanne- just depends. If they have space, you can travel earlier, sometimes for free, sometimes for an extra fee payable there and then. Same for later. But if they are busy and trains full, then no.

For us, the Tunnel or Dover is much shorter and faster, down M11, then on to M20. And then straight down to Dijon. Would make absolutely no sense to go from anywhere else, have a long crossing and a much longer journey. And I would never ever put my dogs through having to stay in the car under decks- in case of delay or bad weather. I have had a few bad crossings on ferry in the past and many hours delay due to unable to dock due to really bad weather- the thought of a dog being stuck in the car with the ferry rollling and the sounds of chains rattling, etc, doesn't bear thinking about.

30 mins in the car, with us- by Tunnel, is the only way.

For anyone M4, M5 way, can I recommend Plymouth - Roscoff. Relaxing journey, you feel like you're in France the minute you board. I used to take school kids on that route ... meal on board, a couple of hours in the cinema, a quiz on-board that I wrote myself (making sure they didn't stray anywhere dangerous!). Dog cabins too.
Of course, not much use if you're visiting anywhere east of Paris, but accessible for Western France.

No-one will get me to go through that tunnel!!

Callistemon21

^The ferry is cheaper going va Dover and the ferry journey is shorter but the driving time ismuch longer and the cost, factoring in motorway tolls, fuel and meal. No different. Go via Portsmouth, a longer more relaxed ferry journey and less driving^

Yes, I agree.
Not every vehicle going via Dover is a coach taking school children on trips.

What is happening with the Tunnel? Are there holdups there?

None. The Tunnel is the perfect way, imo.

Tunnel is a fair bit more expensive though. Well it was the last time I looked.

volver3

When the vote went to "Leave", I did wonder what would happen when we didn't have the French to blame for everything because we would be out of the EU then and the government of the day would have to accept responsibility for anything that happened. But guess what? We still blame the French.

Its so puerile! "It's not our fault, the nasty French are out to get us, and you can't blame our government, and it's never our fault."

Was Britain always like this? Has there always been a stratum of society that won't accept responsibility for anything and will tie themselves in knots trying to blame someone - anyone - else?

Yes they have always been with us, Volver, but manipulators like Farage gave them permission to say it. I do wonder just where some people get their information from.

The tunnel is great until something goes wrong. Last year my DD and family got stuck for 9 hours at Folkestone because of a technical problem; they were starving by the time they arrived at 1 am.
We live half at hour from Caen Ouistreham so use that most of the time, having breakfast in our cabin and sleeping for a few hours on the way.
My favourite crossing is Newhaven to Dieppe. Partly because it was the first crossing I ever did and when I saw the pastel coloured houses in the old harbour I fell in love with France at first sight. The white cliffs on both sides are much more impressive than Dover, the crossing is only four hours and the crew are always cheery and helpful.
Apart from the Covid years I do about six return crossings a year. 😊

The most likely response to this particular "brexit bonus" (making our coach parties queue for fourteen hours at Dover) is due to get worse next year when every passenger on each coach not only needs to have every page of their passport checked, and passport stamped, but will also be fingerprinted and have biometric facial identity checks made, probably doubling the time to check each coach to over an hour.

Apparently this is what is called "controlling our borders" and is what 17 million UK citizens wanted when they voted to Leave the EU in 2016.

Really? Is that what they actually voted for?

Someone I know voted Leave because her sister told her there were too many Somalis in Bristol.

A taxi driver told us he didn't know anything about the EU but watched the Eurovision Song Contest and was annoyed that these "bloody foreigners didn't vote for us - so I thought I'll vote Leave - that'll show them"

I really don't think either of these Leave voters actually wanted to wait in a coach for fourteen hours at Dover on their holiday trip to the bulb fields of Holland or the German Christmas Markets.