Dover Calais border crossing delays - deliberate?

[stripy7]

PositronicRay said:

Well I travel in France frequently. I generally find the French hospitable, pleasant and helpful.

You must speak French then They certainly aren't to us shouty pointy English.

[don'tbesilly]

rich85uk said:

The obvious answer is just avoid France, plenty of choice within Europe if you want a short flight and you can get a ferry to Holland or Spain if your taking the car. Knowing the French this will only continue and spending 15 hours stuck on a motorway is not my idea of fun

Alternatively you can go (by ferry):

Portsmouth - Le Havre/Caen/Cherbourg/St Malo
Poole - Cherbourg

You can also got to either Santander or Bilbao from both Poole & Portsmouth, but it's probably a long and expensive route if you're wanting to get to France/Germany/Belgium etc.

[Iva Barchetta]

stripy7 said:

Efbe said:

johnxjsc1985 said:

are there delays in the Mainland Europe border crossings?.

Yes

Quite a few people have said so!

This is more interesting- surely a contravention of Schengen?

I posted my experience of this after a 2 day trip to Germany,via France Belgium A16 E40 road.

At the border on that road,coned to 1 lane and everyone has to leave the road go round the roundabout to rejoin.

No one stopping checking anything so WTF the point of it ?

Didn't hold me up going east at 1am Thursday or returning 10.30pm Friday but those going east on Friday,long queue.

[Robertj21a]

PositronicRay said:

Well I travel in France frequently. I generally find the French hospitable, pleasant and helpful.

This crossing thing seems like an unfortunate hiccup. I've experienced slightly longer times (30-40mins) at border controls this year, and thats about it.

Any transport system can have nightmare potential, whether planes, trains, automobiles (or boats)

You've clearly been very lucky and not suffered random strikes, lack of any police action, unhelpful French (despite speaking their language) and general arrogance.

[PositronicRay]

Robertj21a said:

PositronicRay said:

Well I travel in France frequently. I generally find the French hospitable, pleasant and helpful.

This crossing thing seems like an unfortunate hiccup. I've experienced slightly longer times (30-40mins) at border controls this year, and thats about it.

Any transport system can have nightmare potential, whether planes, trains, automobiles (or boats)

You've clearly been very lucky and not suffered random strikes, lack of any police action, unhelpful French (despite speaking their language) and general arrogance.

I remember an offhand hotel receptionist once, oh and a rude Parisian waiter.

[jjlynn27]

PositronicRay said:

Robertj21a said:

PositronicRay said:

Well I travel in France frequently. I generally find the French hospitable, pleasant and helpful.

This crossing thing seems like an unfortunate hiccup. I've experienced slightly longer times (30-40mins) at border controls this year, and thats about it.

Any transport system can have nightmare potential, whether planes, trains, automobiles (or boats)

You've clearly been very lucky and not suffered random strikes, lack of any police action, unhelpful French (despite speaking their language) and general arrogance.

I remember an offhand hotel receptionist once, oh and a rude Parisian waiter.

My experience, around Europe is that people are in general very friendly and welcoming. I know someone who's complaining all the time about the way he's treated, but I do attribute to that persons attitude rather than anything else. If you are nice to people, in general, you get treated nicely in return. If you are a tosser, you get treated the same way. Understandably.

[PositronicRay]

stripy7 said:

PositronicRay said:

Well I travel in France frequently. I generally find the French hospitable, pleasant and helpful.

You must speak French then They certainly aren't to us shouty pointy English.

A little Mrs PR is fluent.

The language thing (if not spoken) will happen in many countries away from the main resorts though.

[DJFish]

A rude waiter?,
In Paris?
I find that very hard to believe!

The speaking French thing only goes so far, there are aholes in every country....

[7mike]

Sharted said:

I wish that the little Englanders would stay in Benidorm or Barbados for their holidays, the worst thing about France is the English.

I'm no fan of pissed up chavs but if you prefer murdering bds armed with AK47s, explosives and prepared to drive trucks through crowds then tbh, I think you are a little strange.

[Doofus]

sunbeam alpine said:

I'm in Belgium and they've been giving out warnings on the radio over the last couple of weeks that there is at least a 1 hour wait at the motorway border crossings due to increased controls.

Given that there are so many small roads in our region which also cross into France, I do wonder how effective they are.

Perhaps, but the answer for France is not to do nothing.

[jeff m2]

As an expat who no longer drives to France, can someone explain why the French controls are on the Dover side?
I understand this would not reduce the blockage, but it would shift the parking lot to Calais nes pa.

Something we agreed to (without thinking it through)

The system of placing your border controls in the "other country" would surely stretch the resources of any normal country, even on a good day.

[cahami]

Surely it's because a border control exists to stop you entering another country?.or do I need a parrot?
And if it were the way you are suggesting all those refugees woul live in camp Dover.

Edited by cahami on Sunday 24th July 13:49

[jeff m2]

cahami said:

Surely it's because a border control exists to stop you entering another country?.or do I need a parrot?

My question was not why they exist, it was "location" you can keep your parrot on its perch

[DJFish]

jeff m2 said:

As an expat who no longer drives to France, can someone explain why the French controls are on the Dover side?
I understand this would not reduce the blockage, but it would shift the parking lot to Calais nes pa.

Something we agreed to (without thinking it through)

The system of placing your border controls in the "other country" would surely stretch the resources of any normal country, even on a good day.

One benefit ( & I realise this sounds a bit UKIP) is that you can stop undesirables getting in at source, rather than having to bear the cost & complexity of dealing with them once they've entered your country, which is why the Mayor of Calais is so keen that the arrangements are revised.
The French seem to think that the UK are somehow responsible for the situation in Calais.

I suppose there's also a benefit to the crossing operators, it's more efficient for them to sail empty than to be stuck off the berth, unable to unload cargo, stuffing up their schedule.

Edited by DJFish on Sunday 24th July 14:00

[jeff m2]

DJFish said:

jeff m2 said:

As an expat who no longer drives to France, can someone explain why the French controls are on the Dover side?
I understand this would not reduce the blockage, but it would shift the parking lot to Calais nes pa.

Something we agreed to (without thinking it through)

The system of placing your border controls in the "other country" would surely stretch the resources of any normal country, even on a good day.

One benefit ( & I realise this sounds a bit UKIP) is that you can stop undesirables getting in at source, rather than having to bear the cost & complexity of dealing with them once they've entered your country, which is why the Mayor of Calais is so keen that the arrangements are revised.
The French seem to think that the UK are somehow responsible for the situation in Calais.

Makes sense, thank you.

Although normal procedure puts the onus on the Carrier to check the validity on ones entry to a destination, so we have immigration bods sitting in Calais doing the same thing I assume.

[DJFish]

jeff m2 said:

Makes sense, thank you.

Although normal procedure puts the onus on the Carrier to check the validity on ones entry to a destination, so we have immigration bods sitting in Calais doing the same thing I assume.

Don't take it as read, I'm just making assumptions.
Certainly on Le Shuttle you have check-in, French customs & UK border checks on the other side.

[///ajd]

jjlynn27 said:

PositronicRay said:

Robertj21a said:

PositronicRay said:

Well I travel in France frequently. I generally find the French hospitable, pleasant and helpful.

This crossing thing seems like an unfortunate hiccup. I've experienced slightly longer times (30-40mins) at border controls this year, and thats about it.

Any transport system can have nightmare potential, whether planes, trains, automobiles (or boats)

You've clearly been very lucky and not suffered random strikes, lack of any police action, unhelpful French (despite speaking their language) and general arrogance.

I remember an offhand hotel receptionist once, oh and a rude Parisian waiter.

My experience, around Europe is that people are in general very friendly and welcoming. I know someone who's complaining all the time about the way he's treated, but I do attribute to that persons attitude rather than anything else. If you are nice to people, in general, you get treated nicely in return. If you are a tosser, you get treated the same way. Understandably.

Is anyone noticing a correlation?

[don'tbesilly]

///ajd said:

jjlynn27 said:

PositronicRay said:

Robertj21a said:

PositronicRay said:

Well I travel in France frequently. I generally find the French hospitable, pleasant and helpful.

This crossing thing seems like an unfortunate hiccup. I've experienced slightly longer times (30-40mins) at border controls this year, and thats about it.

Any transport system can have nightmare potential, whether planes, trains, automobiles (or boats)

You've clearly been very lucky and not suffered random strikes, lack of any police action, unhelpful French (despite speaking their language) and general arrogance.

I remember an offhand hotel receptionist once, oh and a rude Parisian waiter.

My experience, around Europe is that people are in general very friendly and welcoming. I know someone who's complaining all the time about the way he's treated, but I do attribute to that persons attitude rather than anything else. If you are nice to people, in general, you get treated nicely in return. If you are a tosser, you get treated the same way. Understandably.

Is anyone noticing a correlation?

Not really no, what is the correlation you're seeing?

I travel to France a lot, one thing they do incredibly well is the transport system, roads are great as are there railways.

Never really had many problems with the French people, most are friendly,welcoming and happy to help, lovely country.

[r11co]

Cobnapint said:

Are they doing the same checks on all the other routes into France via Spain, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Lux and Switzerland......I very much doubt it.

Well, you'd be wrong. I crossed by road into France from Germany (over the Rhine east of Strasbourg) on Monday, crossed back out into Luxembourg north of Metz and then back in from Belgium north of Lille on Tuesday and at all three border points into France there were long queues of traffic and a high police presence.

We entered Germany from Switzerland at Basel, but at the same border point heading into France there were also long queues, with lorries stacked up on the hard-shoulder waiting to get in.

Edited by r11co on Sunday 24th July 14:31

[jjlynn27]

r11co said:

Well, you'd be wrong. I crossed by road into France from Germany (over the Rhine east of Strasbourg) on Monday, crossed back out into Luxembourg north of Metz and then back in from Belgium north of Lille on Tuesday and at all three border points into France there were long queues of traffic and a high police presence.

We entered Germany from Switzerland at Basel, but at the same border point heading into France there were also long queues, with lorries stacked up on the hard-shoulder waiting to get in.

Edited by r11co on Sunday 24th July 14:31

Was kind of rude of you to burst that conspiracy theory inside his head. Very rude.