Trouble at French border crossings?
Discussion
Folks just recieved the message below this morning, can anyone verify this or add any other details? Sounds odd that it's just uk registered cars they're checking.
Some words of advice to anybody planning to drive on the continent in the near future. I have just returned from travelling to Germany, Holland, Belgium and France.
No problems whatsoever between Germany and Holland or Holland and Belgium.
The Belgian/France border is the problem. My advice would be to stay off the motorways as the queues are horrendous, especially near the ports as they are stopping the British.
Do not make any attempt to cross the border at Bray if you are travelling to Belgium from Calais or Dunkirk. Take the coastal road and cross at Bray Dunes and pop out back on the motorway at Veune.
There are police and army at every border crossing. I got into Belgium OK on the coastal road but on the same road coming back was pulled over and everything taken out of the car and it thoroughly seached. Understandable, but allow time for this if you are travelling to the Ferry Port.
Now the really important bit, I was asked for the following paperwork by the border guard (with a very big gun) and was given a thorough telling off when I didnt have all of it.
Passport
Driving Licence - BOTH parts
Car log book (proof of ownership) - I didnt have this (or take car hire company paperwork)
If it is not your car and the address does not match the driving licence you may need to provide some more info.
Car insurance - I didnt have this either
Proof of where you are going to or coming from - an address, hotel or hotel bill and the reason you are going.
They seemed to be pulling over ALL British cars and turning them over, so be warned.
Some words of advice to anybody planning to drive on the continent in the near future. I have just returned from travelling to Germany, Holland, Belgium and France.
No problems whatsoever between Germany and Holland or Holland and Belgium.
The Belgian/France border is the problem. My advice would be to stay off the motorways as the queues are horrendous, especially near the ports as they are stopping the British.
Do not make any attempt to cross the border at Bray if you are travelling to Belgium from Calais or Dunkirk. Take the coastal road and cross at Bray Dunes and pop out back on the motorway at Veune.
There are police and army at every border crossing. I got into Belgium OK on the coastal road but on the same road coming back was pulled over and everything taken out of the car and it thoroughly seached. Understandable, but allow time for this if you are travelling to the Ferry Port.
Now the really important bit, I was asked for the following paperwork by the border guard (with a very big gun) and was given a thorough telling off when I didnt have all of it.
Passport
Driving Licence - BOTH parts
Car log book (proof of ownership) - I didnt have this (or take car hire company paperwork)
If it is not your car and the address does not match the driving licence you may need to provide some more info.
Car insurance - I didnt have this either
Proof of where you are going to or coming from - an address, hotel or hotel bill and the reason you are going.
They seemed to be pulling over ALL British cars and turning them over, so be warned.
B3NNL said:
Passport
Driving Licence - BOTH parts
Car log book (proof of ownership) - I didnt have this (or take car hire company paperwork)
If it is not your car and the address does not match the driving licence you may need to provide some more info.
Car insurance - I didnt have this either
Proof of where you are going to or coming from - an address, hotel or hotel bill and the reason you are going.
They seemed to be pulling over ALL British cars and turning them over, so be warned.
You should take these things whenever you travel in France. This is nothing new?Driving Licence - BOTH parts
Car log book (proof of ownership) - I didnt have this (or take car hire company paperwork)
If it is not your car and the address does not match the driving licence you may need to provide some more info.
Car insurance - I didnt have this either
Proof of where you are going to or coming from - an address, hotel or hotel bill and the reason you are going.
They seemed to be pulling over ALL British cars and turning them over, so be warned.
Stig said:
B3NNL said:
Passport
Driving Licence - BOTH parts
Car log book (proof of ownership) - I didnt have this (or take car hire company paperwork)
If it is not your car and the address does not match the driving licence you may need to provide some more info.
Car insurance - I didnt have this either
Proof of where you are going to or coming from - an address, hotel or hotel bill and the reason you are going.
They seemed to be pulling over ALL British cars and turning them over, so be warned.
You should take these things whenever you travel in France. This is nothing new?Driving Licence - BOTH parts
Car log book (proof of ownership) - I didnt have this (or take car hire company paperwork)
If it is not your car and the address does not match the driving licence you may need to provide some more info.
Car insurance - I didnt have this either
Proof of where you are going to or coming from - an address, hotel or hotel bill and the reason you are going.
They seemed to be pulling over ALL British cars and turning them over, so be warned.
OP: sorry, but you're very silly for not having your car documents with you. As for the UK driving licence counterpart, that's b
ks. It's not needed. UK licences have your postal address on them. My Luxembourg licence, for example, doesn't - not does it have a paper counterpart, and neither do those for Belgium and France.
As to why there are checks: it's the shape of things to come for GB registered cars! You'll need visas next.
Brexit, innit.
On Sunday afternoon I crossed the border from Lille towards Mons (A25-E42). It was a breeze. NO controls whatsoever.
If you want easier access to Belgium, change your route.
ks. It's not needed. UK licences have your postal address on them. My Luxembourg licence, for example, doesn't - not does it have a paper counterpart, and neither do those for Belgium and France.As to why there are checks: it's the shape of things to come for GB registered cars! You'll need visas next.
Brexit, innit.
On Sunday afternoon I crossed the border from Lille towards Mons (A25-E42). It was a breeze. NO controls whatsoever.
If you want easier access to Belgium, change your route.
cptsideways said:
Hoofy said:
B3NNL said:
They seemed to be pulling over ALL British cars and turning them over, so be warned.
Any reason why? Weren't the Paris attacks done by people from Belgium?Controls at Schengen border crossings are legally only allowed to be temporary. So EU law needs to change for this to become a permanent problem.
Sounds like bullying to me though, because if it was intel led about terrorism then racial profiling would enable the security forces to know which car to pull over!
Sounds like bullying to me though, because if it was intel led about terrorism then racial profiling would enable the security forces to know which car to pull over!
p1stonhead said:
Google maps indicates the borders are busy. Doesnt necessarily mean the report is accurate though;
I drove to Antwerpen last week, while those Google road closures were in place.Like a mug I choose to ignore the Dunkirk warning and drove into the back of a 2 hour jam. Cops had closed the motorway and were directing traffic off the motorway, round a roundabout, and back on. French drivers were also driving down the hard shoulder trying to get through, causing truck drivers to move over to block them.
The town routes through Dunkirk and up the coast were also blocked by cops.
So from that point of view, the Google traffic maps seem accurate, though the indication of 32 minutes delay was not.
On the way back I headed on the Kort/Lille route. Same thing; where the red jams are, cops had directed traffic into a truck rest stop and out the other side through a chicane.
Lesson learned: avoid red Google markers near borders. Also my Garmin sat-nav picked up the jams, but only when it was too late to divert. Waze or ViaMichelin apps are also useful if you pull over to use them and re-plan before hitting the motorway.
Re: documents, I take the lot with me, V5, insurance, both bits of Brit driving licence, service bills etc. Not been asked for them yet.
There's French Traffic news on 107.7 FM, not very good for the Belgian/France border. Daily web udates on:
https://driveeuropenews.com/
How have the roads been for anyone travelling the in the past week? We are due to travel next weekend, so have been keeping an eye on this.
Google maps and ViaMichelin have been suggesting the E40 Calais-Ostend route is only suffering delays heading into France but how accurate is this? I had been thinking of taking the Lille-Mons route as suggested above (same as last year), but we had been talking about a stop in Bruges before heading onto Cologne - the first nights stay in Cologne was pre-paid before this kicked off, otherwise the route would be more flexible..
Google maps and ViaMichelin have been suggesting the E40 Calais-Ostend route is only suffering delays heading into France but how accurate is this? I had been thinking of taking the Lille-Mons route as suggested above (same as last year), but we had been talking about a stop in Bruges before heading onto Cologne - the first nights stay in Cologne was pre-paid before this kicked off, otherwise the route would be more flexible..
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