Went to France by ferry with nothing... Left my passport at home in Edinburgh, drove to our office in Windermere and realised what had happened. Made a conscious decision to go on a late ferry to Dunkirk knowing that the French are so slack that they wouldnt check my passport, they never have in years I guess they think the UK Border folk do all the work for them...
Arrived in Dover, spotted a barrier up at an unmanned passport booth, nipped through then stoped to ask a policeman what I should do. He turned out to be Special Branch and he said pop across to the Frech police office at the Dover Port. I realised at the time that I was just inviting more problems for myself so calmly walked across to the French police building. And hid around the corner for a few minutes then walked back to my car. Th eSpecial asked how I got on and I replied, "they just said go across".
Got back into my car and drove off, straight into the arms of another copper directing me into the search the car shed.... so its mirrors under the car and all the stuff out of the back. (it was loaded with kit for a programme in Germany for Daimler). Keep cool, dont offer documents and we are off again to check in..
Passport please said the lady. Sorry, forgotten it says I. Travelled before she asked and found my details from a previous trip and we are through wishing her well and hoping we dont meet in three hours....
So its on the ferry, across and off with no problem at all.
Got the passport posted out as I was sure getting back in would involve a lot of questions and possibly a cavity search without a passport....
So there you go!