Beware of stowaways

[Will]

It may seem obvious, but be very careful if you are approached at the port by somebody wanting to travel in your car on to the ferry.

There are people offering you money to sit in your vehicle as you drive on to the ship. However attractive the offer, or plausible the story, if you have already been through passport control you could get into serious trouble if the number of people in your vehicle does not match the information on the boarding card. I am sure the French officials are rather more watchful than they appear.

People can do this because the area between check in and security control is open to anybody at most ferry ports. What you should do is inform the person that they can purchase a foot passenger ticket which will get them on and off the ship legally. The fact that they cannot do that indicates that their passport or visa is not in order, and you don't want to be inadvertently implicated in people trafficking.

I was reminded of this because there were a couple of young women, of what sounded like Eastern European origin, targeting people travelling alone or in pairs at Ouistreham this morning.

[bubbles]

Sound advice.

Thank you.

[Anton Redman II]

Just to take it the other way round for the last 40 years I have picked up French students and people doing NS at Canterbury or on the A20 hitching to France. 

[AnOther]

Thanks for the warning I suppose but I have to ask the question, would anybody really be dumb enough to do that ?

 

[Will]

That's what I thought AnO, but the gendarmes who hang around the port seemed totally oblivious to the potential illegals (probably because they couldn't be bothered with people trying to leave France rather than arrive).

There's a world of difference from picking people up before check-in, when everybody in the vehicle gets their passport etc checked.

[AnOther]

That's always been the nub of the problem though hasn't it, the French being more than happy to see the back of the illegals, by whatever means.

 

[Chancer]

Like securing the area between customs/passport control and the boat in one direction only [;-)]

I am surprised that they dont fit "free exit" turnstiles. 

[Will]

Actually, thinking more about it, it highlights how poor the port security is on both sides. Passports are only checked at the check-in desk. There is usually no further check - other than a cursory-looking visual one (unless you get pulled over for a full security check) - as you enter the secure port area.

The boarding card you get at check-in (at least for BF - I don't think other operators have a significantly more secure system) reads, typically, 1 U O. That appears to signify -

1 = one person booked for the vehicle;

U = a code for that particular crossing (presumably to prevent you substituting an old boarding pass)

O = Ouistreham, i.e. the destination port.

The booking reference and name appear in much smaller type, so they could be checked against a database.

I very much doubt that most car passengers, who may only use ferries very occasionally, understand this code, so in a desire to be helpful they might well offer a lift to somebody with a good sob-story who offers them a share of the fare they say they are saving - particularly if the initial approach is made by an attractive young Ukranian. And it depends on somebody, as you pass through the security gate into the port area, and/or drive on to the ship, checking the details on the card against the vehicle.

Foot passengers have to go through a much more elaborate security procedure. Do they think that if you are in a car you aren't a potential smuggler, hijacker or terrorist?

Having got on to the ship, the difficult bit is getting out of the port at the other end. UK ports, at least, seem reasonably secure as far as casual escape is concerned. But as the cleaning companies employ large numbers of Eastern Europeans, Portuguese etc, it doesn't seem beyond the realms of possibility for two or three 'extras' to be added and helped out of the port.

Fantasy maybe, but who can say?