Ferry - vehicle len...
 

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[Closed] Ferry - vehicle length enforcement

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Off to France on the ferry shortly and I'm wondering how strict they are with the vehicle length limits. I misread the length (honest, I did) as 5m + rear load, not 5m [b][u]inc.[/b][/u] rear load. Silly mistake, but that's what I've done. My car will be 5.2m with the rear carrier - are they likely to stop me getting on?

Brittany ferries, Portsmouth - St Malo if it matters.


 
Posted : 24/07/2017 12:15 pm
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Don't know, but I'd risk it fwiw


 
Posted : 24/07/2017 12:17 pm
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You'll be fine.
"overlength" will be 6m+ and even then they dont really assess it.


 
Posted : 24/07/2017 12:21 pm
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I think it'll be the "If it looks massively over, we will kick up a fuss" sort of thing. 20cm isn't going to be easy to assess so I suspect you'll be fine.


 
Posted : 24/07/2017 12:22 pm
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Just don't bring your dog or they'll bum it as punishment. Other than that, you'll be fine, probably.

EDIT: Nice 'i'm off on holiday' humble brag.


 
Posted : 24/07/2017 12:25 pm
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My gut feeling is I'll be ok, but I thought I'd ask 🙂

As for the humble brag, I'm off to France for a couple of weeks in a caravan with the Mrs and kids. Check me out 😉


 
Posted : 24/07/2017 12:32 pm
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I'll wave at you from my local beach in Ryde as you float past on the Brittany Ferry.


 
Posted : 24/07/2017 12:34 pm
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My estate car with the bike carrier on is over 5m - done that trip loads of times with the carrier on and Brittany Ferries have never pulled me up on it.


 
Posted : 24/07/2017 12:37 pm
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Now we've done the serious bit of the thread, can we draw attention to the op trying to squeeze 8 inches into his rear end?


 
Posted : 24/07/2017 12:39 pm
 colp
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He'll get thoroughly inspected in the port


 
Posted : 24/07/2017 12:44 pm
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At 5.2m including the car and bike rack that's got to be one compact caravan the OP is pulling.


 
Posted : 24/07/2017 12:44 pm
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I have never had a problem with Stenna line over height. Some times i use a roof box others i dont and some of those times i had not booked under the correct height limits. Like said above, as long as you are not taking the pi$$ and ferry not at absouloute capacity you should be fine.


 
Posted : 24/07/2017 12:46 pm
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There's a joke somewhere chaps, keep trying 😉

g-d - I'm hoping the caravan is already there waiting for us 🙂


 
Posted : 24/07/2017 12:47 pm
 a11y
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Never a problem with P&O (Hull-Rotterdam/Zeebrugge) crossing.

DFDS though, pedantic to say the least. Problem was only outbound from Newcastle, with return from Amsterdam check-in staff not batting an eyelid. Landrover with 2 bikes on roof extending 10cm above the height of caravan attached to the back of car. Check-in staff asked for ~£60 extra for bikes as we'd not added them to booking (our mistake) as "you're too tall for the ferry". Tight Scottishness won and I took them off and stuffed into caravan for ferry.

Got on board ferry and we - along with every other caravan - are in same section as coaches/lorries with LOADS of headroom...


 
Posted : 24/07/2017 12:52 pm
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He'll get thoroughly inspected in the port

Sounds painful, especially if they put gloves on. 😯


 
Posted : 24/07/2017 1:01 pm
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especially if they put gloves on.

I'd prefer with gloves, than without.


 
Posted : 24/07/2017 1:19 pm
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I travel on Brittany twice a year in the T5 with the bike rack. Always enter less than 5m plus rear rack, never had any problems. They were measuring cars with a tape measure when I travelled in May but got through no problems.

I did have a friend who forgot to add the height of his roof box on and was bumped at the terminal to the next day. So if you haven't added the rack to your booking it would be worth calling them and adding it now.


 
Posted : 24/07/2017 1:39 pm
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I've booked it with extra height (2.6m) & up to 5m long, but I have also specified a roof load and rear carrier (fnarr fnarr):

Vehicle details Height Length Registration
Car Up to 2.6m Up to 5m -----
Rear bike carrier
Roof Load


 
Posted : 24/07/2017 1:54 pm
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Just as an aside if anyone is planning to go with Corsica ferries they h ave people at the check in with a tape measure as I also forgot to tick the box about a bike carrier. They very efficiently fleeced me for an extra 90 euros.


 
Posted : 24/07/2017 2:31 pm
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We did Brittany from Portsmouth to St Malo last weekend.
Car was just under the 5m but we'd bought a new caravan which was 0.5m longer than the size we'd booked.
We got pulled up and 'checked for size' but the only thing they pointed out was the sestposts on the bikes on the roof made them just too tall.


 
Posted : 24/07/2017 4:17 pm
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I think it is the height they worry about more. As long as the car you are driving is in the correct category you have booked and you've declared correctly what you've got on the rear of your vehicle they don't seem to give a stuff. My SMax plus the 4-bike tow-bar mounted cycle carrier I used was a very long vehicle, but yet when we booked it was just a 'large family car with rear mounted cycle rack'. So no specification about how many bikes were rear-mounted.


 
Posted : 24/07/2017 5:09 pm