ROOF RACK QUESTION.

[Pun]

Im going back to the U.K. for a few weeks and decided to take my trailer and this will be pulled by nissen x trail 4x4.

the trailer is a twin axle 9feet long (inc towing connection) and 7feet high.

now Ive been using this trailer for some 7 years on and off with no problems but when I was booking the crossing today with sea france I was asked would I have anything on the car roof rack.

 

The car is a lot lower than the trailer so why this question ?

S.F. said they must ask  and as Im not using the roof rack I didnt think much of it until after I'd put the phone down.

anyone been asked this one??

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

It may have nothing to do with the trailer.

Car is (?) 6ft high. Roof rack could be piled (?) 3 ft high. It's feasible that a 9ft high vehicle needs to be loaded into a different area (in with all the Norberts?) from a 7ft one.

I've never travelled Sea France, but certainly in the BF queues the tall vehicles are separate from the short ones. Thinking about headroom I've definitely been on boats where we've been loaded into areas with less than 8 ft clearance.

[Will]

What Albert says is quite correct. Normally on a ferry private cars, normal sized vans, 4x4s etc can be loaded on two levels - usually under 2m or 1.8m (depending on ship) above, up to about 2.4m below. Anything higher has to go with the trucks, and thus, effectively, takes up twice the space on the vehicle decks. A large 4x4 with a loaded roof rack could definitely be too high to use the space under the hoist able car deck. So there is an extra charge. Interestingly, on the Portsmouth routes, LED Lines charges a lot extra for over height vehicles (because they take up double space) and people with vans have often found they get a better deal with Brittany Ferries, the complete opposite to car passengers.

No doubt the person taking the booking thought that as you have a trailer, there was a good chance you would be carrying a lot, including on the vehicle roof.