Queues at Dover again...despite all French staff being there

[cakeorwine]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11058351/What-queues-like-Dover-Holidaymakers-hit-two-hour-queues-warned-weekend-worse.html

How can this be? It was all down to the French not having enough staff apparently. At least that was the excuse last week.

I suppose it could be because it's a busy time of year. Which it is.

And it's going to get worse this weekend.

6 years they had to plan for this. 6 years.

"Due to Britain now being a 'third country', Paris insists travellers must have their passports stamped with dates when entering and leaving the EU's Schengen area, which France is a member of.
This is to ensure Britons don't stay more than 90 days within a 180 day period without a visa, which is required post-Brexit for longer visits.
Border guards have also been ordered to ask British holidaymakers whether they have a return ticket, have enough money for their stay and have booked accommodation.
It means it can take an extra 90 seconds longer to carry out passport checks on Continent-bound cars."

I don't think each passenger is being asked about their journey. But it is taking longer and it's good to see the Mail mention that.

I wonder what excuse is going to be this weekend's one?

I agree @Cornettoninja , we need to organise our end better so the system is workable, queuing on the motorway with no facilities is not acceptable
It's not going to go away

Yes. We should have a special sticker on our passports that says "I voted remain".

Border guards have also been ordered to ask British holidaymakers whether they have a return ticket, have enough money for their stay and have booked accommodation

Are the French authorities worried about loads of Brits claiming asylum from Brexit Island

Every EU country can do the same. The DM was winding people up earlier in the week about Spain being able to refuse entry if people can’t prove they’ve got £80ish per person per day for the duration of their stay.

I don’t think they’re necessarily doing that at the moment but they’d be within their rights to start. And then we’d have to listen to whining about being bullied by the Spanish.

We are sailing on the overnight crossing from Portsmouth, so much easier

The people to blame are those who voted for Brexit. I voted remain!!!!!

Always good to read the Daily Mail to see what stories people are being exposed to and what views they have...

True, I fly into CDG for work quite a bit, and the French are actually quite helpful, if queues are not busy for EU they allow some specific 3rd countries to use those lanes including UK. They do the time check, scan and stamp, but never been asked reason for stay, funds or accommodation.

The French are actually helping. But the UK always needs a bogey man. Was the EU, when any policy was not favourable the EU made us even if our ministers waived it through the council of ministers. Often when it wasn’t even an EU thing.

Now we are out it will be Frances fault

Having gone through the chaos of Dover my self can I say this is not the fault of the French. Then stamp your passports and don’t ask you a thing.

It’s the lack of planning post Brexit. And the idiots who voted leave.

There are other ports! Quite a few of them! We use Portsmouth to St Malo. There's also Portsmouth to Caen (that can be very slow on the French side though - it's small), Plymouth to Roscoff as a previous poster said and then various options to the Netherlands - Harwich etc. Some friends crossed back Newcastle to Amsterdam earlier this year after having a bad experience Calais to Dover.

Yes you pay more for the crossing so it's a trade off between money and time.

We have had some lovely crossings from Portsmouth with Brittany Ferries. Their staff are great and it's like part of the holiday - there's entertainment etc.

All the border people, French and English, were perfectly pleasant.

Hull to Rotterdam is a good one, get on the evening ferry, be there in the morning, start your day in the port and make the most of the time to get where you need so no wasted time.

I do wish the Newcastle to Bergen ferry still existed

Yes, there are other ports (I'm on a ferry at one now) but the crossings are both longer and usually more expensive.

We went to France during the same time as the huge queues at Dover. We went via Portsmouth and had no issues. It definitely seems to be more of a Dover issue

We went via Portsmouth. No issues that end but were much slower off the boat through customs as our passports were stamped and I was asked where we were staying, how long for as well as what I'd bought on the boat. He was somewhat surprised when I said I'd only bought chocolate!

mobile.twitter.com/ByDonkeys/status/1551464079608483840

This - deserves to be watched by every brexiteer who fell for this nonsense. They have no excuse.

Figmentofmyimagination
This - deserves to be watched by every brexiteer who fell for this nonsense. They have no excuse

To be fair to Jacob Rees-Mogg, he was actually referring to goods imported from the EU in the clip - 'there would be no need for [customs] checks at Dover on EU imports in the event of a no-deal Brexit'.

Have there been any problems at Dover today? Not according to this:

Port of Dover Travel
@ PoD_travelnews
#TrafficUpdate at #PortofDover at 1215hrs. Tourist flows are moving through French Border Control within 5 minutes. Freight flows are running through with no wait. A20/A2 towards the port at running freely.
12:15 PM · Jul 31, 2022

And how odd that P&O Ferries' Top Tips for Travelling During Peak Times pre-Brexit recommends allowing at least 90 minutes to complete all checks (2017 blog);

When you get to the port, be prepared to wait if you’re travelling during peak times... Leave yourself at least 90 minutes to complete all checks, especially if you’re travelling with pets.

blog.poferries.com/2017/08/08/summer-travel-advice-top-tips-travelling-peak-times/

Glittertwins
I was asked where we were staying, how long for as well as what I'd bought on the boat. He was somewhat surprised when I said I'd only bought chocolate!

Probably because on-board Duty Free returned when we left the EU:

www.dfds.com/en-gb/passenger-ferries/duty-free

www.poferries.com/en/routes/dover-to-calais/onboard/shopping

Has anyone tried claiming VAT back on purchases yet?

Eurotunnel
UK residents are now eligible to shop tax free in the European Union and can save money on VAT on their purchases. A variety of goods qualify, including cosmetics, jewellery, technology, and food and drink items...

www.eurotunnel.com/uk/tax-free-shopping/#:~:text=UK%20residents%20are%20now%20eligible%20to%20shop%20tax%20free%20in,and%20food%20and%20drink%20items.

I never fully understood what leaving the EU meant which is why I couldn't vote for it, but other people who did seem to understand all the details suggested that this country wanted control of the borders. I was reasonably sure that stricter borders means more paperwork but obviously this can't have been the case and certainly won't be why six years wasn't long enough to sort the problem we an actual border (which was a solution not a problem, really anyway). Likewise, I heard something about people coming here and taking jobs, again not something I understood because I thought that this was as in island with a finite number of people who could be employed but again, others understood better so I can't see a lack of workers being an issue either. Weird. I think it must be poor people getting above their station and daring to travel on a boat rather than using an airport which might have similar problems although presumably for an entirely different reason.

It will be busier at peak times - that was true before and after Brexit. You have a lot of cars checking in and limited infrastructure at Dover.

Increasing the time of checks will increase the time taken to get through - I think even @Clavinova will agree with that.

It does look like Dover has been ok this weekend. Which is good. We are going through in a few weeks so will be interesting to see just how much longer the checks take than we are used to.

Increasing the time of checks will increase the time taken to get through - I think even @ Clavinova will agree with that.

Doubling the number of French passport control booths appears to have helped immensely - when fully staffed of course.

I will let you know how long it takes to get through compared to before.

Who is staffing them @Clavinova ?

As a some one who voted brexit, good for you 😂

People coming on endlessly about Brexit don’t understand that it is s tiny proportion of the UK population who benefited from being waved through immigration at Dover! And the whole population who would suffer from increasing integration with a sclerotic and outdated that is the EU. Incredible how tiny some and self-centred people’s frame of reference is.

People coming on endlessly about Brexit don’t understand that it is s tiny proportion of the UK population who benefited from being waved through immigration at Dover!

As somebody pointed out upthread you'll find there's more to this than long queues for holidaymakers.

So no thoughts about the extra delays caused everyday to those driving HGVs, even though the increased inbound customs checks haven't been introduced by the UK at places like Dover.