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Calais ... again


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[quote user="Théière"][quote user="gardengirl "]We set off driving to England this morning, currently in the Auvergne for tonight. We bought a mifi so that we could keep up to date with what's happening with the strike. We are booked to cross on Saturday and sitting for hours or longer wasn't an option; we would cancel our Eurotunnel booking and head off for a few nights until it was sorted. It's good to hear that action is suspended, but it could easily kick off again.

Many of our French neighbours and friends are appalled about the action taken, some say that the police ought to have waded in and sorted it - the most upset was our 94 year old neighbour, who thought it a very unFrench thing to do, depriving people of their holiday and French businesses of their income![/quote]

Apparently suspended action until Tuesday so you should be ok once the backlog has cleared, good luck.

I will wade in on Friday next and spark an international  incident if they haven't buggered off by then, It won't be tyres burning!

[/quote]

We arrived home in England a couple of hours ago. Before leaving the hotel for our 3 hour drive to the Tunnel I checked that things were running smoothly; yes, fine, up to 4 trains each hour. Great.

On arrival at check-in, the signs said that there were delays of up to an hour. By the time we got to the terminal it was 90 minutes. However, after using the toilet facilities just after they had been cleaned, We bought some extra water and a newspaper and went to the car to eat the sandwiches we'd bought at a Paul's en route. About 40 minutes after arriving at the terminal, our hanger letter was called, so off we set. We drove into a train for high vehicles and left about 50 minutes after arriving at the terminal, so it was much better than we'd feared. The reason for the delay was given as 'technical problems'.

On arrival, we drove along the motorway westwards for about an hour before traffic jams sent us off cross-country. It would seem that the last of the lorries had just set off from the holding area, and all the toilets were still in place at regular intervals, on both sides of the motorway further away from the Tunnel; I suppose that Operation Stack must have used the motorway in both directions.

So, Théière, I hope you fare well on your trip.
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My current customers arrived yesterday via the tunnel, they had no real delays other than being diverted off the M20 to the A20 to avoid operation stack.

I too hope that Théière fares well but for entirely selfish reasons!

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[quote user="idun"]It is currently some sort of invasion of the EU, as with all invasions, maybe should be repelled and the french should do something about these invaders on their territory. [/quote]

Then let us at least applaud the strikers who seem to be doing their best to prevent any traffic of immigrants to the UK. [6]

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  • 2 weeks later...
Unless you had to (as in having pre-paid Tunnel tkts) you wouldn't travel via Calais at the moment would you?

Complete anarchy all round.

Even though it'll undoubtedly be calmer then (??), we've just made our Crimbo bookings & have decided to avoid Calais like the plague!

The people I feel sorry for are the lorry drivers - not the greatest job at the best of times, but these are the people who supply the UK supermarkets.
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It seems enough is enough for some transport companies who are now using Holland to cross over from . Maybe a period of immigrants not seeing any lorry driving down the road to Calais for a while will fix the problem . They will up sticks and head to Holland .
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Angry

French ferry workers who have illegally occupied two cross-channel

ferries have caused damage and drunk the bars dry, it has been claimed. Striking crew members protesting over 600 job losses are said to have run amok on the Rodin and her sister ship the Berlioz. The two boats have been moored in Calais since Euro tunnel closed the MyFerryLink business this month.

Apparently the new Danish owners are not impressed, It doesn't really seem a good way to negotiate a better deal, still I suppose the French know better.[Www]

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[quote user="sueyh"]Any news of firsthand info on the situation. We are going over via eurotunnel Saturday morning, returning Sunday evening. Traveling to Ramsgate.

Thanks in advance.

Suey[/quote]

I know its a bit late now but we came back on the shuttle Tuesday evening, and no problem there, the only problem we had was getting through the English immigration, it took ages and the queues were horrendous. God knows what it'll be like on a Sunday in August.

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[quote user="Thibault"]But why let facts get in the way of blaming the UK for everything going wrong in Calais. At the end of the day, it is reassuring to know that France is not to blame in any way for any of it........[/quote]

When shanty town spreads into Calais town... and its population is larger than Calais , and the main languages spoken in the region are Arabic and some African one ,and the good people of Calais are frighted to leave their homes ...... Will the words " Something has to be done " still be the only ones we hear ?

Or will the "consentration camps " have been built in the EU for the "unauthorised arrivals " to be rounded up and put into for "processing " and accepted or "returned to country of origin " where people are left in no doubt what will happen to them if they leave it and try to enter the EU .

Or has anybody got a better idea of a "something " that has to be done ?

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There does seem to be little in the national newspapers but the local press carries a running commentary e.g.

http://www.lavoixdunord.fr/tags/myferrylink-0 and http://www.nordlittoral.fr/recherche/myferrylink
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I read this a few minutes ago and came on to report it - you beat me to it.

''The Maritime Nord Union has this morning blocked access to, and exit from our French Terminal in the Calais direction. Entry is still possible from the Boulogne direction following local diversions in place. If your arrival to check-in at Calais is delayed, please rest assured that we will accommodate you on the next departure with space available.''

French police told the BBC protesters would end their blockade at 12:00 BST.

Eurotunnel tweeted: "The protesters have now left the motorway, but A16 from Calais remains closed as the authorities work to remove
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Certainly all this has been enough to put us off using Calais when we have to return to Britain next week.   We have booked Dieppe/Newhaven.  I haven't been on that route since 1975 ish as a teenager, in what I still remember as a rather grotty Sealink boat.

Apart from any humanitarian aspect,  where on earth *is* all this going to end...?   Some pretty wild suggestions today (shutting down Calais,  deploying the army,  etc),  but then the situation it seems is getting pretty wild too. 

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