Button
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 22 Jul 2016
- Posts: 3,057
Ssh - you'll encourage Vic to post about Ramsgate again!
Jan Higgins likes this
(Not my real name.)
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,878
Button wrote:Ssh - you'll encourage Vic to post about Ramsgate again!
That made me splatter my coffee.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Captain Haddock
- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 8,090
"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
Guest 3925- Registered: 28 Nov 2020
- Posts: 541
After my appalling journey to France back in July, I was terrified of the return.
Pulled up Sunday evening with no queue in Coquelles at check-in, drove through to the PAF (about 30 seconds to stamp passports) straight onto Border Force where it took a bit longer because my wife dropped my passport in the car and we had to search for it
then straight down onto a shuttle!
From check-in in France to driving off in Folkestone took about 1hr 30mins, staffing at all points was superb
Brian Dixon and Jan Higgins like this
TheThinWhiteDuke- Registered: 7 Jul 2016
- Posts: 357
AndyPol wrote:After my appalling journey to France back in July, I was terrified of the return.
Pulled up Sunday evening with no queue in Coquelles at check-in, drove through to the PAF (about 30 seconds to stamp passports) straight onto Border Force where it took a bit longer because my wife dropped my passport in the car and we had to search for it
then straight down onto a shuttle!
From check-in in France to driving off in Folkestone took about 1hr 30mins, staffing at all points was superb
You got lucky. Trust me. If you had turned up last night it would have been a different matter for example.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62655148
See what I mean about poorly maintained? And the "poor communication"? Can't blame Immigration Controls for this one like they often do when they muck up. Plus five hours is not an acceptable time to be stuck in any tunnel.
These sorts of "technical difficulties" happen way too often.
Couldn't run a train set imo.
Guest 3925 likes this
Guest 3925- Registered: 28 Nov 2020
- Posts: 541
I know, I was extremely lucky, and with the wider use of social media and smartphones being grabbed for anything these days, photos emerge quickly which prevent ET hiding behind "technical difficulties"!
It's only a very large figure of eight train set
Watch this space, my friend works at ET and they said they always have issues on BH weekends!
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,878
I saw the footage and a passenger's interview on the lunch time news, what an awful way to treat your customers.
It made me wonder how Eurotunnel cope with those like myself who are unable to walk more than a few feet.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 3925- Registered: 28 Nov 2020
- Posts: 541
Everything running well so far, fingers crossed for the weekend
TheThinWhiteDuke- Registered: 7 Jul 2016
- Posts: 357
AndyPol wrote:Everything running well so far, fingers crossed for the weekend
Tell that to the five hour queue at Calais Ferryport yesterday.
Button- Location: Dover
- Registered: 22 Jul 2016
- Posts: 3,057
TheThinWhiteDuke wrote:Tell that to the five hour queue at Calais Ferryport yesterday.
Well I never, don't tell me UKBF is as bad as PAF?!
(Not my real name.)
Neil Moors- Registered: 3 Feb 2016
- Posts: 1,299
Once again, the undeniable truth that having left the EU, there are now more checks than before - and by definition, it takes longer for each vehicle/person to pass through the ports, both sides of the channel. I guess the question is only whether it is this much longer, or that much longer.
Guest 3925- Registered: 28 Nov 2020
- Posts: 541
We left the EU and have no right to just hop in and out of the France as we please. Wait until ESS comes in next year and then you'll see chaos! Might only be £7 per non EU national but you need to be seen by a law enforcement officer (PAF) which will add a couple of minutes per passenger!
Regarding the chaos in Calais the other day, that was caused entirely by the Eurotunnel farce. People were simply turned away from ET and told to drive to Calais. Unfortunately, when a large train set can't be run properly and it results in thousands of extra cars unexpectedly arriving at a port, towards the end of school holidays, it's a perfect storm!
BF and PAF are simply convenient scapegoats when they are just doing the job required by their respective governments.
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Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,927
So , isn't it the case the govts should have planned better
TheThinWhiteDuke likes this
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Neil Moors- Registered: 3 Feb 2016
- Posts: 1,299
My issue is not so much the lack of planning, rather the disingenuous way the government is pretending nothing has changed. It's an insult to our collective intelligence. We've left the EU, the border is now an external one for the EU, and therefore it's going to take longer to cross it. It's what we wanted, it's what we've got.
Ross Miller likes this
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
i didnt want it, now causing long ques on the a20 and beyond.astma has increased along the a20 tract.
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
Button- Location: Dover
- Registered: 22 Jul 2016
- Posts: 3,057
AndyPol wrote:BF and PAF are simply convenient scapegoats when they are just doing the job required by their respective governments.
So it would seem: "Ferry operators DFDS and P&O Ferries apologised for the long wait times at UK border controls on Saturday."
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-62783358(Not my real name.)
TheThinWhiteDuke- Registered: 7 Jul 2016
- Posts: 357
New Calais port badly designed and not being addressed or admitted to, and also (cough cough, (whispered)), brexit and subsequent EUSS scheme causing absolute mayhem for everybody involved also not being addressed or admitted to, (cough cough).
From what I've heard from people on the ground.
Not first hand experience at all (cough cough).
Paul Watkins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 9 Nov 2011
- Posts: 2,226
Without cough - cough , I concur Calais absolute mess. Travelled over in March & whilst waits are the norm , nothing like the chaos & mess when we travelled again in August.
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940