French/Belgium border issues,again.

[gtidriver]

Are p&o ferries allowing that far advanced change of ticket, might look at leaving the boat and going on the train, there not answering the phone at all ,even on other routes.

[The Leaper]

BBC News has just reported that people using the A20 to get into Dover for the ferries to France are taking about 10-12 hours to get to the ferry port...no water, no loos, looks bad. Dover port has said that there's no hold up as a result of their own processes but getting through French passport control is the issue..no reason given for that.

R.

[gtidriver]

I think the 12 hr wait is for trucks.

[Iva Barchetta]

gtidriver said:

I think the 12 hr wait is for trucks.

Read what I typed early this morning the 2nd lane was full all the way back to the tunnel on the A20.

How far is that ?.....5 miles ?

[gtidriver]

It'll also be the abandoned road works in Dover, what seams to be a roundabout removal is taking a bloody long time..

[davepoth]

gtidriver said:

I think the 12 hr wait is for trucks.

Based on the interview they did with a coach passenger on BBC news, I'd say it was more than just trucks.

[Iva Barchetta]

davepoth said:

Based on the interview they did with a coach passenger on BBC news, I'd say it was more than just trucks.

We're typing at the same time.

Yes it is ALL vehicles.

[gtidriver]

I'd place ££ on it that lorrys have tried to jump the que and not been let back in so blocked the second lane, as they do EVERY time that Dover Tap is on.

[gtidriver]

Iva, was there any trouble in Calais ?

[Iva Barchetta]

gtidriver said:

Iva, was there any trouble in Calais ?

No.

Queue for UK frontier, which is the first you get to was small ,bit slow 2 in front of me as I could see the

blokes in the booth having a very close look at someones ID docs but no other problems.

This was at 11pm, peak times could be another matter.

And as I also said earlier the P n O boat times are all over the place, boats arriving and leaving late.

Other ferry services are available.

No Jungle problem AFAIK.

[Riley Blue]

Just to cheer you all up...

http://www.trafficengland.com/?evtID=682894

[BlackST]

My brother drove to Dover from Liverpool midnight last night, got there about 5.
He text me saying delays of 4-8 hours.
As he was going to a music festival in Antwerp and it is on tonight he turned back around and drove back home.

Just asking him now where the delays where.

[DJFish]

According to this article there was, at one point, only one French Border officer checking the ("hundreds of") coaches and only three guys working the rest of the queue.
I understand that France is on high alert, and it's good that extra checks are being carried out, but why aren't more staff being brought in?
Is it France's draconian labour laws or is there another, possibly deliberate reason why travel through Calais has been disrupted like this during the busiest season of the year?

The M20 is queuing past the 11a junction for the Le Shuttle!

Edited by DJFish on Saturday 23 July 13:57

[Riley Blue]

You'd think that if this increase in passport checking by the French is as a result of a nationwide security alert they'd implement it at all cross-channel border crossings - or do potential terrorists only travel via Dover? Any delays reported on routes to St Malo, Cherbourg, Caen, Le Havre, Dieppe etc?

[gtidriver]

What's going on?? Only Dover-Calais seams fked, and driving out of France into Belgium. I spoke to p&o ferries earlier and the lady I spoke too had heard that only a few staff where working the check points. I'm leaving at 10pm tonight to get on the 7:35 am tomorrow morning.my spidey senses are tingling that it's just to ps off the brits, could be wrong though.

[Riley Blue]

I read that last night there was one French official checking passports on coaches and each coach took around 40 minutes - there were hundreds of coaches queueing according to reports. Cars had three officials checking but there were thousands of cars.

[347Andy]

Latest reports are delays of 16 hours on the A20 from Folkestone into Dover Eastern Docks (presumably this is mostly HGV's) and 4-6 hours on the A2 into Dover.

[Riley Blue]

...and 36-48 hours more of it - at least.

[gtidriver]

A woman wrote on Kent online that she had waited 6hours to get through passport control and the French didn't even check her passport, wft..

[Iva Barchetta]

I felt a bit WTF on Wednesday after the mere 40 minutes I wasted there, Frenchie wasn't interested in my passport

but I waved the page with my ugly mug at him anyway but I did get pulled into the shed for the explosives

swab check off my steering wheel.