Is it just Dover where the issues are? Or issues at other ports too.

Curiously, just at the ports/terminals where the hard border is, by agreement, on UK soil. Dover, Folkestone, Eurotunnel.

Blaming the French for something that is funded (or not) and implemented in a different country to them.

When a queue is forming I always leave a gap for people in the right hand lane to pull into. It never gets taken , the scumbags always want to go right to the front.

Zip-merging is much more efficient than a single file queue, and is taught as the correct way to drive in some other countries. Our British obsession with queuing doesn’t do us any favours here.

We went to France on eurotunnel in April and it was carnage then! Fair enough only maybe 2 hour delays, but getting through the passport control was just a mess.

I think they need to look at how they funnel cars through to passport control, 2 lanes round the car park is shit if you end up in the wrong one (bloody missus needing the toilet!). Keep queues to specific lanes so people don’t get upset with queue jumpers, I was trying my hardest not to get cross with people, which I did manage mostly, but just sitting there watching people from all angle fill gaps in front of you when you can’t move is just annoying. Once through PP control we just drove straight onto a train as there was no queues at the gates before the trains!

It must be a nightmare for the locals around Dover as well. What happened to the airfield they were going to use for stacking lorries after brexit. Stacking on the motorway doesn’t seem to be working.

That Simon Calder bit is good. Anyone denying this is a brexit related issue is deluded! Infrastructure needs to change as well though.

Blaming the French

Brexit rule #1

Everything is the fault of the Europeans. Britain is perfect.

Zip-merging is much more efficient than a single file queue, and is taught as the correct way to drive in some other countries. Our British obsession with queuing doesn’t do us any favours here.

I completely agree with this, but it needs to be controlled not just a free for all.

We travelled out on Eurotunnel mid June in the camper and had no problems or queues. a lot smoother than we expected. Thought it may be more difficult on the way back two weeks ago and allowed a bit more time just in case. No queueing or delays and was offered a hour earlier train at no extra cost.

Going back out again at the end of September so hopefully it will be back to as near normal as we could expect.

Anyone denying this is a brexit related issue is deluded!

It’s a problem created by Brexit which could have been mitigated by even a semi-competent government.

I take the tunnel to France nearly every week for work, been doing so for a few months now.  When I booked my last ticket, all I could buy was a Flexi+ at about double the price of what I normally pay, so I assumed it was heavily booked – work pays, so not an issue, but I try not to waste their money unnecessarily.  I generally take the 6:20am train, so leave Wimbledon at 4am, and was very glad of my Flexi+ ticket this morning.  All the check-in booths were operational, 6 passport booths instead of the usual 2 (occasionally 3) but then when arriving at the boarding queues, they were about 75% occupied instead of the usual 10-15%.  Looked like about 4 trains worth of cars waiting, so minimum 2 hours.  Typically regardless of what time your train booking is, you get in the queue to get on the next space on a train.  Despite my 6:20 booking, I’d be lucky to have got on much before 9 at a guess.  I however with my Flexi+ was diverted to a deserted queue and was the first to board the 6:20 train.

So from my limited observation, it would appear as though Eurotunnel had just sold more tickets than they had capacity for, no delays more than the normal, and they had additional provisions for coping with customers, just no more trains.  Hopefully won’t be too many delays on my return, as I have fixed appointments, but a Wednesday early afternoon isn’t typically peak travel time.

Remember

Zip-merging is much more efficient than a single file queue, and is taught as the correct way to drive in some other countries. Our British obsession with queuing doesn’t do us any favours here.

Hey! Our British way of doing things is the best AND I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANY DIFFERENT.

If “other countries” (sour lemon face) want to do it that way then we should do the opposite. Efficiency has nothing to do with it.

Zip-merging is much more efficient than a single file queue, and is taught as the correct way to drive in some other countries.

yes but there is zip-merging – at the junction point – and then there is blatting your way up the left (possibly on the hard shoulder) in your Audi/BMW/Merc as far as you can until there is no room left and then just driving at the cars on your right until someone lets you in to avoid an accident.

You just need one big sign that says MERGE LIKE A ZIP HERE. Brits insist on merging miles before there is any need, making the queue twice as long as available road space is not being used. Then seem unable to understand the concept of merging in turn. I have concluded you engineer such situations as you just love to moan about other people and their rudeness.

as above, we need a zip road sign to illustrate the point, most drivers/people are morons.
also positioning so cars merge in a new ‘middle’ lane (eg spanning lane 1 and 2) before flipping to where it really needs to be would be a massive help.

GB News booking Simon Calder to comment on the travel delays is great. only previously heard him on R5 late nigt

We went on Friday (just missed the crash) and it was exactly as Turboferret described.

Wednesday – Thursday was chaos, but all that was cleared by Friday morning. The initial delays were nothing to do with customs or the crash – it was simply more vehicles than train slots that caused an initial 2 hour delay. No more cars came on site after us due to the crash, but we were still 2 hrs late boarding (despite arriving 2 hours early). Then everything else backed up due to the crash and days of chaos ensued.

He was the same when he realised that he could only spend 90 days continuously in his holiday home in Greece where he usually goes for the winter and that he’d be breaking a few rules by working while over there too (just needs a computer and a phone to do his job), again not his fault.

Thank you!

As someone who has been extremely inconvenienced by Brexit, as well as the mild humiliation it now carries when introducing oneself as British in Europe, I’m extremely pleased to hear it’s actually catching up with these tools who voted for it, esp. after the past two years of hearing their defence of Brexit was that “nothings changed”. Maybe you can remind him that any of those days spent in Greece will be knocked off his quota in France, or anywhere else in the Schengen zone for a 180-day period.

It s been a few years since I last used Eurotunnel – when it all worked extremely well.
So what’s actually different now? It sounds a bit like going through immigration at the airport. Do you queue at a booth to have your paperwork checked? And if so what paperwork do you need to have ready for inspection?

He went on a massive rant about its to stop the immigrants coming here, not holidaymakers going there. He was the same when he realised that he could only spend 90 days continuously in his holiday home in Greece where he usually goes for the winter and that he’d be breaking a few rules by working while over there too (just needs a computer and a phone to do his job), again not his fault.

ThIs iSn’t the BrEXit I vOted for! etc

It will interesting to see how many of the Operation Yellowhammer criteria (report detailing the effects of a no-deal ‘crash out’ Brexit) we still manage to achieve despite Johnson’s ‘oven ready’ deal.

https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/operation-yellowhammer

It s been a few years since I last used Eurotunnel – when it all worked extremely well.
So what’s actually different now? It sounds a bit like going through immigration at the airport. Do you queue at a booth to have your paperwork checked? And if so what paperwork do you need to have ready for inspection?

its no different in terms of where you drive through the passport control. It’s just that the French authorities actually have to look at your passport now and check it, then stamp them all rather than just giving you a cursory glance and carrying with the conversation they’re having with their mate in the next booth.

Not sure if Eurotunnel have sold more tickets as well though….

Yeah UK drivers ar idots.

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/105986/70-per-cent-of-drivers-don-t-know-how-to-merge-in-turn

I always try and merge in turn (zip merge) as that’s what the signs indicate. But you get loads of people getting grumpy and trying not to let you in.

I don’t drive a BMW or Audi for reference 😀

its no different in terms of where you drive through the passport control. It’s just that the French authorities actually have to look at your passport now and check it, then stamp them

Wait till European Entry /Exit System comes in along side E visas to visit EU. EES requires biometric data checks for each traveller, how much of a cluster will that be at Dover?

This sign has been at the bottom of Elland bypass in Halifax since the mid 90’s. You always used to get some **** in a van or lorry blocking the right hand lane from quite far back. I haven’t driven down there at 5 o’clock on a week day for years now, but I bet it hasn’t changed.

….although saying that, when I spin the camera round is does look like it might be working….

[url=https://postimages.org/]picture uploading website[/url]

There’s a merge in turn sign on an exit from a roundabout nr Amersham, as you can imagine it works seemlessly

There’s a merge in turn sign on an exit from a roundabout nr Amersham, as you can imagine it works seemlessly

If the locals somehow can cope with the Wycombe magic roundabout, they should be able to understand this concept.

Not sure if Eurotunnel have sold more tickets as well though….

Their max capacity is fixed, given number of trains, embarkation times and length of tunnel.

@ads678 – it’s going to change very soon as they are upgrading the Salterhebble junction

It will interesting to see how many of the Operation Yellowhammer criteria (report detailing the effects of a no-deal ‘crash out’ Brexit) we still manage to achieve despite Johnson’s ‘oven ready’ deal.

All of them?

I note the column relating to government intent is mostly filled with “The government’s mitigations are not clear” and a sprinkling of “moar gunboats”.

Just an update on our personal experience. went out on Eurotunnel on 28th June well before the recent hiatus… no problems or delays of any kind.

Came back today (27/07) and experienced no delays at all – arrived earlier than booked at Calais but got put on an earlier train, the 14:20. Check in with no queue or delay, cleared French border control with only a bit of queueing (no worse than usual), cleared UK border control probably the quickest ever.

Now this was obviously mid-afternoon, mid-week….  come the weekend I’ve no idea.

So far so good. Booked on 13.50.
Assigned to 12.50
Currently 12.52 listening to security announcements on the train
🙂
And we’re off

Questio is whether to try to find s campsite further into France for tonight…

Waiting for the 3.50 train. Everything just fine (faster than normal)..

Flew through today. No issues.

Eurotunnel was a piece of piss compared to the mont blanc tunnel

2 hours from France to Italy last week

1 hour from Italy to france today

However on our way down today, the queue to get into Italy was easily 3x the one we sat in a few days ago. Easily a 6+ hour wait today

We came back from France the other week, hit the tunnel at 1am, so much better! I would never use it during the day and really hope I never have to.

Only thing is after it, in UK main road to Dartford crossing was closed for night closures…. At that time I managed to miss the diversion signs which were confusing and ended up in a low emissions zone before I decided I needed to wake the missus up for help!

We must’ve added another 2 hours onto the journey just to get to Cambridge! Then another 3 hours from there… night closures and diversions can be the worst!!

We came through on Friday. Arrived early just in case but had no delays and was told we could board any of the earlier crossings so did.

Clutch has gone on the car now though so might not be coming home Tuesday as booked!😫

Went over Friday and everything went well (except the huge queue for Starbucks).
Coming back today was a different story. Arrived 1hr 20mins before the due check in time and appeared to be heading for an early train but the car park was gridlocked due to the backlog from the passport checks and we ended up on a later than scheduled service. Only toilet working was in the last carriage and we were in the first 🙁

Anyone been out in the last 24 hours? I am going CoD Friday set time 8.30am, flexi on the way back two weeks later

Heading out on the tunnel tonight, booked on at about 10:30pm but aiming to get there earlier and hoping for an earlier crossing.🤞

Anyone been out in the last 24 hours? I am going CoD Friday set time 8.30am, flexi on the way back two weeks later

Mate of mine… no issues.

Sounds good, I am heading out in the morning. Fingers crossed.

Looking forward to the 20 degrees in the Swiss mountains.

Now to pack 4x mtb’s and assorted tat ….