Brexit finally ends channel Crossing

Who in their right minds would have thought that checks would only apply to 'them furiner' but not us too?

It's facile to blame the French. Yes maybe they can be obstructive, but I wonder what they say about us? We chose to leave the EU, I can't see that European countries owe us anything

4allweknow

Haven't heard the same about other ferry ports in UK. Some don't go to France eg Denmark. How about tge Scandinavian cruises, never hear of issues with passport checks when disembarking from the ship to go on a visit. Why the problem at Dover at Easter holiday time?

Dover is the shortest crossing and the most popular route.

The ferry terminal is on a very constricted piece of reclaimed land beneath the famous White Cliffs of Dover. It is not possible to build more checking points there.

That is why there is a bigger problem at Dover than anywhere else, but delays are mainly due to the fact that our bonkers Brexit government insisted on us leaving the EU, thus becoming a "third country" subject to extensive checks - in contrast with the freedom of movement within the EU that UK citizens previously enjoyed.

If there are a couple of crossings a day you have time to do the checks on either side of the channel.
If there are crossings every couple of hours with checks for both borders in the same place then queues and delays are inevitable, especially at peak times.

Probably because thousands of people travel through Dover every day. It's especially busy at the beginning of school holidays because so many coaches use the Dover crossing.

Haven't heard the same about other ferry ports in UK. Some don't go to France eg Denmark. How about tge Scandinavian cruises, never hear of issues with passport checks when disembarking from the ship to go on a visit. Why the problem at Dover at Easter holiday time?

The most likely response ?

The ferry companies will restrict the number of coaches and poorer people who now save up for a coach trip will either stay at home or fly.

How much good will more flights be for saving the planet from climate change?

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.

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. 😊

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

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?

Well said Volver3

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

Jaxjacky

Me missvolver, me 👋👋👋

That's made me laugh. 😁

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"

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.