Campsite alcohol/glass debrief
Discussion
We were on Garage Vert - inside the circuit (nr the main Northern entry/exit to the tram station).
Arrived Wednesday late afternoon - straight in no problem with only tickets and camping passes checked/scanned. Went out for initial supplies 8-9pm and returned fine.
Thursday on the way back from Hotel de France stopped at Super U for supplies including wine bottles and cans of beer. Arriving back at the site early afternoon a "security" guard was now present on the gate in addition to the usual ticket checking duo. Security was checking the boot of all cars in front of us but we managed to bamboozle/persuade him with a combination of rear mounted engine, cheery friendly attitude and "we have nothing we arrived yesterday!".
Very lucky too - every further time we returned to camp the boots of all cars were checked quite thoroughly. Saw quite a few people having all booze confiscated, not just glass.
Chatted to one guy in the shower queue, his group had asked on the way out if a box of wine (plastic bag in box) would be ok and told yes - yet next 'shift' took it off them on return. And 50m away people were chucking stuff over the wall to each other.
We also visited arnage and mulsanne enclosures during the race and the staff there could hardly be bothered to check a ticket never mind conduct searches.
Usual French / ACO shambles. They should make the rules very clear and apply them with more consistency. Doubt that will ever happen
How did anyone else get on?
Arrived Wednesday late afternoon - straight in no problem with only tickets and camping passes checked/scanned. Went out for initial supplies 8-9pm and returned fine.
Thursday on the way back from Hotel de France stopped at Super U for supplies including wine bottles and cans of beer. Arriving back at the site early afternoon a "security" guard was now present on the gate in addition to the usual ticket checking duo. Security was checking the boot of all cars in front of us but we managed to bamboozle/persuade him with a combination of rear mounted engine, cheery friendly attitude and "we have nothing we arrived yesterday!".
Very lucky too - every further time we returned to camp the boots of all cars were checked quite thoroughly. Saw quite a few people having all booze confiscated, not just glass.
Chatted to one guy in the shower queue, his group had asked on the way out if a box of wine (plastic bag in box) would be ok and told yes - yet next 'shift' took it off them on return. And 50m away people were chucking stuff over the wall to each other.
We also visited arnage and mulsanne enclosures during the race and the staff there could hardly be bothered to check a ticket never mind conduct searches.
Usual French / ACO shambles. They should make the rules very clear and apply them with more consistency. Doubt that will ever happen
How did anyone else get on?
Absolutely no consistency. This year was a complete arse ache, and I have been put off slightly because of it.
I arrived at Mulsanne campsite with minimal drink on Thursday lunch, I had my car "searched" partially because they could see my camping fridge and cooler. I had 12 bottles of beer in the fridge to get us by the usual campsite setup before we headed around the corner to the supermarche.
I was refused access initially in a sentence of French, and the chap pointed to the "no alchohol allowed sign"
I asked him to take the bottles if that was the case, to which he shrugged his shoulders.... His mate then waved me through.
VERY confusing.
On our trips out in the car, we removed the spare wheels, tools etc, and hid all of the beer inside the rear wheel wells.
Upon asking around at the campsite, some had been searched, some hadn't. The searches at the entries to the circuit were also pretty hit and miss, with a quick look into an open zip (even though my bag had three compartments) and a a quick shuffle to try and hear glass. Wrapped bottles in clothing don't clang...
I think the ACO need to get their act together, and make this one rule one way or the other.
I personally don't think I'd attend if all alcohol was banned, especially with the terrible prices at the actual circuit.
I arrived at Mulsanne campsite with minimal drink on Thursday lunch, I had my car "searched" partially because they could see my camping fridge and cooler. I had 12 bottles of beer in the fridge to get us by the usual campsite setup before we headed around the corner to the supermarche.
I was refused access initially in a sentence of French, and the chap pointed to the "no alchohol allowed sign"
I asked him to take the bottles if that was the case, to which he shrugged his shoulders.... His mate then waved me through.
VERY confusing.
On our trips out in the car, we removed the spare wheels, tools etc, and hid all of the beer inside the rear wheel wells.
Upon asking around at the campsite, some had been searched, some hadn't. The searches at the entries to the circuit were also pretty hit and miss, with a quick look into an open zip (even though my bag had three compartments) and a a quick shuffle to try and hear glass. Wrapped bottles in clothing don't clang...
I think the ACO need to get their act together, and make this one rule one way or the other.
I personally don't think I'd attend if all alcohol was banned, especially with the terrible prices at the actual circuit.
Edited by scottmodha on Monday 20th June 22:55
NickNJ said:
Usual shoddy French security for us also.
Very little checks going into the circuit which is worrying given the current climate.
Didnt get bag searched once all weekend at the maison blanche entrance, no car checks wed afternoon arrival at Blue Nord prior to entry to ph/1st tickets camping. No checks at Arnage sat night either.Very little checks going into the circuit which is worrying given the current climate.
Seems like the campsite rules are enforced about as consistently as the race regs..
one of our guys was stopped with beer and wine entering Tertre Rouge campsite
there was a sign that said it could be collected upon exit, so he asked for a receipt
they didn't want to give him one, so he shut the boot without handing anything over, and drove in !
I think as someone had mentioned, the rule changes depending upon which security staff was on duty, and also how busy they were
there was a sign that said it could be collected upon exit, so he asked for a receipt
they didn't want to give him one, so he shut the boot without handing anything over, and drove in !
I think as someone had mentioned, the rule changes depending upon which security staff was on duty, and also how busy they were
As predicted, barely a cursory glance on Houx. We took several hundred bottled beers and a massive gas cylinder onto the site, and security didn't so much as bat an eyelid. Trips up to the track were always accompanied by a handful of beers, and it required nothing more than putting them at the bottom of a rucksack to get through the security checks.
Yeah same thing each year. They searched my van each time I entered BSJ, but only for a 5 second glance - they didn't even lift bags etc to see if anything was underneath (which was lucky, I had the David Hasslehoff album, Knight Lover, in there and I think that's on their banned list)
We were on BSJ.
No check on arrival or the other 2 trips to the supermarket.
Very easy and efficient. Perhaps the fact that we were 2 people in a small car (alfa GTV) helped.
We did buy all the beer in cans though as we wanted to take some to the circuit, so would probably have been fine anyway.
No check on arrival or the other 2 trips to the supermarket.
Very easy and efficient. Perhaps the fact that we were 2 people in a small car (alfa GTV) helped.
We did buy all the beer in cans though as we wanted to take some to the circuit, so would probably have been fine anyway.
We were stopped on arrival at tertre rouge and they spotted some beer in bottle, quick check of the car and they took out one crate of beer and 6 bottles of cider, decanted cider into a plastic bottle and drank a fair few bottles of beer, left the rest and drove in, after that we were more careful with any glass and had nothing else confiscated, but were checked each time we entered at the main gate but no real hassle
We camped in Houx. Massive queues on arrival (Thursday late evening thanks to Eurotunnel debacle) caused by "security checks" they were insisting on opening the boot but the subsequent cursory look around wasn't very convincing. The girl doing the checks did spot the cooking knives and said "I didn't see that" then asked if we had anything else sharp, flammable, or explosive. Honestly the emphasis seemed to be more on looking for possible terrorists than trying to stop you bringing beer or bottles.
Input from Maison Blanche.
No vehicle interior checks on our 8 car arrival around 5:30pm on Thursday, I wasn't really looking but I didn't see any other vehicles get checked either. On our initial arrival the gate staff were more interested in whether we all had the correct tickets. Good luck searching our 2 main transport barges anyway!
Went out Friday morning for our usual drive around the circuit (as much as you still can) and supermarket shop. On return with all 8 cars, I was just waved through the gate, our camping ticket was on display but our entrance tickets were not and were not asked for. I think that was the same for our other cars also. At least 3 cars were stacked to the gunnels with food and drink with no attempt to hide anything.
Perhaps we just have innocent looking faces!
No vehicle interior checks on our 8 car arrival around 5:30pm on Thursday, I wasn't really looking but I didn't see any other vehicles get checked either. On our initial arrival the gate staff were more interested in whether we all had the correct tickets. Good luck searching our 2 main transport barges anyway!
Went out Friday morning for our usual drive around the circuit (as much as you still can) and supermarket shop. On return with all 8 cars, I was just waved through the gate, our camping ticket was on display but our entrance tickets were not and were not asked for. I think that was the same for our other cars also. At least 3 cars were stacked to the gunnels with food and drink with no attempt to hide anything.
Perhaps we just have innocent looking faces!
We arrived at Houx at 3.30am on Thursday and our Motorhome was inspected, well a quick look inside and we were asked if we had weapons. There could have been a Nuclear Device hidden in the bathroom and they never looked in there, or under the bed or any cupboard.
Whenever we left in any vehicle, we were always checked, we had to stop and open the trunk. They were looking for glass items I believe.
It did not really delay us greatly getting into the campsite.
Did not see any shady types, and did not hear of anything being stolen from Houx this year.
Whenever we left in any vehicle, we were always checked, we had to stop and open the trunk. They were looking for glass items I believe.
It did not really delay us greatly getting into the campsite.
Did not see any shady types, and did not hear of anything being stolen from Houx this year.
Our cars were checked on arrival at Houx on thursday afternoon with no issues other than having to stop to lift the boot. When we came back later from the Carrefour loaded down with 10 crates of lager clearly visible not even a mention. On Friday morning on the way back with 30+ bottles of red wine they checked the car and complemented us on the choice of wine and waved us in.
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