Trouble at French border crossings?

[hoegaardenruls]

krallicious said:

hoegaardenruls said:

krallicious said:

It was like that on the 27th July and yesterday. Travelling into B was fine though.

Thanks, that's what I wanted to hear, I owe you a dram!!

Off on another holiday whisky run?

Well, pretty much the same today, traveling into Belgium was fine but a queue of at least a mile back from that junction over the border in the westbound direction.

Picked up a few supplies in Bruges as a result of the easy journey, and an earlier than expected crossing..

[ukbabz]

Was fine yesterday going too / from Dover to Calais on a day trip. It was an organised bike ride, but on the way out the French didnt even want to check passports, on the way back the queues were pretty normal. However shedloads of police out and about Pas de Calais, and some paramilitary presence at the port (fatigues and assault riffles).

[gtidriver]

The anti isis cones have been removed going into Belgium, unfortunatley they are still there coming back into France,so now everyone is aware of them theres a load of traffic coming off at Adinkirke and joining at the wrong junction and picking up the same roundabout that everyone is using thats being diverted off the main motorway. I spoke to the police in Calais at Eurotunnel and he said it was stop the terrorists. WFT the fking idiot.

A nut job decides to kill a load of people in the south of France so the authorities decide to cause hours of misery for travellers in the north of France by diverting all the traffic off of the motorway for police checks that dont exist and never have,thatll teach those crazy folk to not attack France, The tt that implemented that should be name shamed and sacked.

Id say now drive through Depanne and pick up the coast road back into france down to Dunkirk.

[RC1807]

^^^ It wasn't *only* in the South of France, though, was it.


Anyway, the border from Luxembourg to France remains open.


I was in Paris at the weekend wife my wife and youngest. No so many Gerndarms around, but plenty of soldiers on the streets patrolling in groups of 3. Security increased everywhere with bag searches and scans at all the tourist hotspots (Eifel Tower, Sacre Coeur de Montmartre, Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, etc.)

[davek_964]

In just over a week, I'll be going France -> Belgium and then south, which sounds like it's OK. On the way back, it sounds like Belgium -> France is the delay? I'm more likely to come straight up the French motorways on the way back (and pay, obviously) - so is that less of a problem?

I plan to leave as much time as possible, but for the return journey I'll be starting in Switzerland and am booked back on an evening train, so don't want to get held up too much!

[gtidriver]

davek_964 said:

In just over a week, I'll be going France -> Belgium and then south, which sounds like it's OK. On the way back, it sounds like Belgium -> France is the delay? I'm more likely to come straight up the French motorways on the way back (and pay, obviously) - so is that less of a problem?

I plan to leave as much time as possible, but for the return journey I'll be starting in Switzerland and am booked back on an evening train, so don't want to get held up too much!

You will be held up at the tunnel, i was there for an hour last night, uk border force checking passports, the french police just looked at it, didnt scan it, go on the ferry and i saw the french police use a magnifying glass on the driver in fronts passport.

[davek_964]

gtidriver said:

You will be held up at the tunnel, i was there for an hour last night, uk border force checking passports, the french police just looked at it, didnt scan it, go on the ferry and i saw the french police use a magnifying glass on the driver in fronts passport.

OK, thanks. I will aim to get there fairly early....

[davek_964]

So according to the news this morning, the current trick is for them to pull trees etc. across the motorway to force the traffic to stop, thereby giving them plenty of time to hide in lorries. Fabulous.

Looks like it's probably only happening at night, and since my return train is 21:50 I should be there before it's dark anyway. But definitely seems I should be leaving plenty of time on my return journey!

[PositronicRay]

davek_964 said:

So according to the news this morning, the current trick is for them to pull trees etc. across the motorway to force the traffic to stop, thereby giving them plenty of time to hide in lorries. Fabulous.

Looks like it's probably only happening at night, and since my return train is 21:50 I should be there before it's dark anyway. But definitely seems I should be leaving plenty of time on my return journey!

The autoroutes are constantly busy. So the only time you could drag a tree across would be stupid o'clock.

[ukbabz]

gtidriver said:

You will be held up at the tunnel, i was there for an hour last night, uk border force checking passports, the french police just looked at it, didnt scan it, go on the ferry and i saw the french police use a magnifying glass on the driver in fronts passport.

They were doing this at Calais on Sunday, arrived with nearly 2hours to spare, ended up driving straight onto the boat due to the glacial progress seemingly it was the UK border force causing the delay.

[Europa1]

Anybody know what the waiting time is like at Dover at the moment - am off on hols on Friday.

[768]

After seeing this thread I thought this time there might be someone manning the border route I take from Geneva into France.

Not a saucisson.

[hoegaardenruls]

768 said:

After seeing this thread I thought this time there might be someone manning the border route I take from Geneva into France.

Not a saucisson.

Same experience here the past couple of days, crossed from Germany south of Strasbourg and into Luxembourg on Sunday, and from Tournai in Belgium towards Lille yesterday.

I was expecting more of an issue yesterday due to 'Operation Escargot' on the A16 motorway at Calais, and the French Gerdarmerie did a very good job of keeping traffic flowing - I'd left plenty of spare time, looped round by Lens towards St Omer to be able to reach the tunnel via Guines. In the end, the E15 had been queing trucks after the last tolls, and were diverting other traffic through the route I had planned, and we reached the check-in with about three hours to spare (even crossed an hour earlier than planned)

[davek_964]

Came back on Sunday with zero problems. Straight along the French motorway into the Eurotunnel entrance, with maybe half a dozen cars in front of me for passport control. I got there very early, and for 18 Euros changed my booking to a train 3 hours earlier - although it then turned out they had delays, but still was on a train 2.5 hours earlier than my original booking.

Traffic on the M20 / M25 after 2 weeks in Europe was horrendous though, even at 8pm on a Sunday evening.

[anonymous-user]

davek_964 said:

Came back on Sunday with zero problems. Straight along the French motorway into the Eurotunnel entrance, with maybe half a dozen cars in front of me for passport control. I got there very early, and for 18 Euros changed my booking to a train 3 hours earlier - although it then turned out they had delays, but still was on a train 2.5 hours earlier than my original booking.

Traffic on the M20 / M25 after 2 weeks in Europe was horrendous though, even at 8pm on a Sunday evening.

The M25 is always the pain point coming back from France - the road surface being the main one!

[gadgetmac]

Hi

Can somebody tell me what the situation is at the French-Belgium border going both from and to France at the moment.

Are UK cars still being delayed whilst they are stopped and searched or has it calmed down a bit now? I'm trying to plan a trip to Ypes next weekend.

Thanks

[chevy55]

davek_964 said:

Traffic on the M20 / M25 after 2 weeks in Europe was horrendous though, even at 8pm on a Sunday evening.

You obviously didn't try the Dartford crossing as it was closed NB for about 4 hours on Sunday evening but yes, you do notice it when you get on the M20 at any time after a trip in Europe

[hoegaardenruls]

gadgetmac said:

Hi

Can somebody tell me what the situation is at the French-Belgium border going both from and to France at the moment.

Are UK cars still being delayed whilst they are stopped and searched or has it calmed down a bit now? I'm trying to plan a trip to Ypes next weekend.

Thanks

Some friends came back from Holland using the E40/A16 the day after I travelled last week. I'd avoided the area altogether, but they mentioned traffic was still being routed off at the first junction inside the French border and back onto the motorway - fine going out though. Google maps seems to suggest the diversion is still there.

There was no sign of anything near Lille.

[PositronicRay]

Through the summer check in @ the tunnel was taking much longer. No time for a comfort break, go straight to queue. Is it still the same?

[Riley Blue]

hoegaardenruls said:

gadgetmac said:

Hi

Can somebody tell me what the situation is at the French-Belgium border going both from and to France at the moment.

Are UK cars still being delayed whilst they are stopped and searched or has it calmed down a bit now? I'm trying to plan a trip to Ypes next weekend.

Thanks

Some friends came back from Holland using the E40/A16 the day after I travelled last week. I'd avoided the area altogether, but they mentioned traffic was still being routed off at the first junction inside the French border and back onto the motorway - fine going out though. Google maps seems to suggest the diversion is still there.

There was no sign of anything near Lille.

I'm not aware of British cars being stopped and searched at the French/Belgian border, just being diverted off and back on as described above along with other traffic.