Passport exit checks, Dover
Discussion
iva cosworth said:
There's another thread on this but can't find it or remember its title.
If I remember correctly the consensus was that it was much worse [slower] on the return trip with checks
at border control in Calais.
Last August we were stuck at Calais for around 4 hours edging along the dual carriageway with only the attempted immigrants for entertainment. All of the delay was down the the UK passport checks. They were quick and efficient but with only 4 booths they were never equipped for the holiday rush. Never checked in either direction at the Dover sideIf I remember correctly the consensus was that it was much worse [slower] on the return trip with checks
at border control in Calais.
I went through Eurotunnel today.
The Border Agency was not a problem. I think what they are doing is linking passports to cars. Once on the shuttle, an attendant scans tha bar code on your hanger and confirms that there are 2, etc. passengers on board. All they are trying to do is get a good handle on how many people are exiting the country. There were absolutely no delays by the BA checking passports etc.
However Eurotunnel were desperately trying to convice everyone that they had lost track of their backside and elbows. On probably one of the quietest days I have ever experienced, no one seemed to have a grasp on what trains were leaving, or when we might be on one. A two hour delay was reduced to 30mins at a stroke.
Thank God my wife was as wound up as me after enduring umpteen delays on the UK motorway system between Knutsford and Folkestone.
Perhaps we need to choose politicians based on promises that the UK will not be allowed to sink into a third-world economy. Low-skill; Low pay; zero imagination.
The Border Agency was not a problem. I think what they are doing is linking passports to cars. Once on the shuttle, an attendant scans tha bar code on your hanger and confirms that there are 2, etc. passengers on board. All they are trying to do is get a good handle on how many people are exiting the country. There were absolutely no delays by the BA checking passports etc.
However Eurotunnel were desperately trying to convice everyone that they had lost track of their backside and elbows. On probably one of the quietest days I have ever experienced, no one seemed to have a grasp on what trains were leaving, or when we might be on one. A two hour delay was reduced to 30mins at a stroke.
Thank God my wife was as wound up as me after enduring umpteen delays on the UK motorway system between Knutsford and Folkestone.
Perhaps we need to choose politicians based on promises that the UK will not be allowed to sink into a third-world economy. Low-skill; Low pay; zero imagination.
We sailed on a 7:35 sailing out of Dover last Tuesday, arriving at the P&O check-in at 6:50. The queues were some of the longest I've seen and I've been using Dover for over 40 years. To cap it all, just as we reached the front of the queue, the shifts changed so that added a further 15 minutes to the wait. By contrast, going through the Border Control checkpoints took no time at all.
The queues at Calais on the way back were much shorter but we still had a five minute wait then were waved to one side, along with a van and three more cars picked at random, for a drug dog to have a sniff around - silly bloody animal stuck its nose up a hot exhaust...
The queues at Calais on the way back were much shorter but we still had a five minute wait then were waved to one side, along with a van and three more cars picked at random, for a drug dog to have a sniff around - silly bloody animal stuck its nose up a hot exhaust...
rdjohn said:
The Border Agency was not a problem.There were absolutely no delays by the BA checking passports etc.
So i hear @ Manchester Airport 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG3UcWURo1M
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