On Monday, I was returning to the UK via ferry from Calais. The queues were absolutely horrendous! While P&O did email to say that things were "taking longer than usual" and to reassure us that we would be put on the next ferry if we missed our scheduled one, I still don't feel like I've had any explanation as to why the queues were so long.
There was a long queue for "check in", and even worse, after you got through that it seemed like the 20+ lines for the various ferry operators then had to funnel into around 8 lines to go through the passport check booths. There was no guidance or queue management, and as you might expect this caused a lot of honking, shouting and frustration as people didn't want to let others merge in front of them. In the end, we barely made it onto the next ferry after our scheduled one, which was two hours later!
Even more astonishing is that, even though it was absolute pandemonium, there appears to be no record that this ever happened, apart from a few tweets by P&O saying that queueing time is now 150 mins, now 180 mins, etc. No news article, and as I say, no actual explanation of any kind for the hold up!
This might seem a little unfair, but honestly, as far as I can tell, the entire thing seems to me to have been caused by French border staff doing their job very slowly on purpose? I have no idea why they would do this, but it's really the only conclusion I can come to given how fast they were putting cars through compared to the very quick service provided at the UK border booths just afterwards.
I love hopping over to France, but this experience has really made me consider whether the risk of this happening again is worth it. For example, if I'd had my four year old in the car with me, it would have been absolute hell.
There was a long queue for "check in", and even worse, after you got through that it seemed like the 20+ lines for the various ferry operators then had to funnel into around 8 lines to go through the passport check booths. There was no guidance or queue management, and as you might expect this caused a lot of honking, shouting and frustration as people didn't want to let others merge in front of them. In the end, we barely made it onto the next ferry after our scheduled one, which was two hours later!
Even more astonishing is that, even though it was absolute pandemonium, there appears to be no record that this ever happened, apart from a few tweets by P&O saying that queueing time is now 150 mins, now 180 mins, etc. No news article, and as I say, no actual explanation of any kind for the hold up!
This might seem a little unfair, but honestly, as far as I can tell, the entire thing seems to me to have been caused by French border staff doing their job very slowly on purpose? I have no idea why they would do this, but it's really the only conclusion I can come to given how fast they were putting cars through compared to the very quick service provided at the UK border booths just afterwards.
I love hopping over to France, but this experience has really made me consider whether the risk of this happening again is worth it. For example, if I'd had my four year old in the car with me, it would have been absolute hell.