Karl Bushby and the Channel Tunnel

[Shrop]

Has anyone heard of Karl Bushby? He's the guy who is walking from the southern tip of Chile to his home in Hull, without using any transport whatsoever. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Bushby

Impossible? No. He started in 1998 and has taken 28 years, including perilous sections through the Darien Gap in central America, and crossing from Alaska to Russia via the Bering Strait on foot while it was frozen.

This is completely crazy of course, but nevertheless it's a fact and for anyone with a true sense of adventure it's mind-blowingly admirable.

After 28 years of incredible grit and determination, Karl is now in Belgium and hoping to reach Hull in just a few more weeks. So how will he cross the Channel?

Well there's a service tunnel which is perfectly possible to walk through, and you might think the Eurotunnel operators (now Getlink I believe?) would be pleased to accommodate him and take this fabulous opportunity for good publicity.

This would be on the basis that it's strictly a one-off and not to be a precedent for other hare-brained adventures, but wow, after 28 years surely Karl deserves a bit of support.

But no, those in charge have simply dismissed his requests, and instead he's being forced to swim the Channel as his only alternative.

Am I being unreasonable for thinking that Getlink.should, in this once in a lifetime situation, be just a bit more accommodating?

 

[Turtle]

Has anyone heard of Karl Bushby? He's the guy who is walking from the southern tip of Chile to his home in Hull, without using any transport whatsoever.
Impossible? No. He started in 1998 and has taken 28 years, including perilous sections through the Darien Gap in central America, and crossing from Alaska to Russia via the Bering Strait on foot while it was frozen.
This is completely crazy of course, but nevertheless it's a fact and for anyone with a true sense of adventure it's mind-blowingly admirable.
After 28 years of incredible grit and determination, Karl is now in Belgium and hoping to reach Hull in just a few more weeks. So how will he cross the Channel?
Well there's a service tunnel which is perfectly possible to walk through, and you might think the Eurotunnel operators (now Getlink I believe?) would be pleased to accommodate him and take this fabulous opportunity for good publicity.
This would be on the basis that it's strictly a one-off and not to be a precedent for other hare-brained adventures, but wow, after 28 years surely Karl deserves a bit of support.
But no, those in charge have simply dismissed his requests, and instead he's being forced to swim the Channel as his only alternative.
Am I being unreasonable for thinking that Getlink.should, in this once in a lifetime situation, be just a bit more accommodating?

You're not being unreasonable but with today's obsession with security/ immigration etc I think there could be difficulties to say the least.

 

[43096]

You're not being unreasonable but with today's obsession with security/ immigration etc I think there could be difficulties to say the least.

I don't think it's even that. Much more of a problem is that you'll then get loads more people pleading "special case". It's just an utter can of worms for Getlink and they are far better not entertaining the idea.

 

[Egg Centric]

Not to be a miserable git but he should have thought of that before setting off rather than presenting it as a fait accompoli.

I wonder how his son feels about his father having been more or less absent in his life because of this endevaour.

Ok maybe I am being a miserable git

 

[Shrop]

I don't think it's even that. Much more of a problem is that you'll then get loads more people pleading "special case". It's just an utter can of worms for Getlink and they are far better not entertaining the idea.

I've covered this point in my OP. There are virtually no "special cases" ever, that involve such a huge achievement over such a length of time.

Refusing to assist in this as a one-off is churlish and unnecessary, a decision made by small minded people.

Seeing this as a potential can of worms is just unnecessary paranoia.

 

[Egg Centric]

I've covered this point in my OP. There are virtually no "special cases" ever, that involve such a huge achievement over such a length of time.
Refusing to assist in this as a one-off is churlish and unnecessary, a decision made by small minded people.
Seeing this as a potential can of worms is just unnecessary paranoia.

What he has done has obviously been extremely difficult, beyond 99% of people, an exercise in total determination yada yada and is a huge achievement in that sense.

It's also a complete waste of time, he's not Ernest Shakelton or whatever. We've not discovered anything new. We knew this journey was possible in principle. All it's meant is a bunch of inconvenience for other people - not least his offspring - and at best this guy "finding himself" or some other such thing. In this sense, this is not an acheivement at all or to the extent that it is it's a net negative one.

 

[Falcon1200]

Am I being unreasonable for thinking that Getlink.should, in this once in a lifetime situation, be just a bit more accommodating?

How long would it take him to walk through the Tunnel, and what would happen should the service tunnel be required for operational use during that time?

 

[The Pelican]

The Wikipedia page on him suggests he swum the Caspian sea by swimming 179 miles over 31 days, pausing overnight to sleep on a boat.

 

[PaulJ]

I’m sure I’ve read this exact post elsewhere in the last 6 months ago. I agree it’s a tremendous feat, but no, I don’t think Getlink should set a precedent by accommodating Karl.

 

[Transilien]

Has anyone heard of Karl Bushby? He's the guy who is walking from the southern tip of Chile to his home in Hull, without using any transport whatsoever.
Impossible? No. He started in 1998 and has taken 28 years, including perilous sections through the Darien Gap in central America, and crossing from Alaska to Russia via the Bering Strait on foot while it was frozen.
This is completely crazy of course, but nevertheless it's a fact and for anyone with a true sense of adventure it's mind-blowingly admirable.
After 28 years of incredible grit and determination, Karl is now in Belgium and hoping to reach Hull in just a few more weeks. So how will he cross the Channel?
Well there's a service tunnel which is perfectly possible to walk through, and you might think the Eurotunnel operators (now Getlink I believe?) would be pleased to accommodate him and take this fabulous opportunity for good publicity.
This would be on the basis that it's strictly a one-off and not to be a precedent for other hare-brained adventures, but wow, after 28 years surely Karl deserves a bit of support.
But no, those in charge have simply dismissed his requests, and instead he's being forced to swim the Channel as his only alternative.
Am I being unreasonable for thinking that Getlink.should, in this once in a lifetime situation, be just a bit more accommodating?

His trip around the world has lasted almost as long as rail privatisation in the UK!

 

[Shrop]

How long would it take him to walk through the Tunnel, and what would happen should the service tunnel be required for operational use during that time?

Around ten hours walking time (3mph) ought to be sufficient. The question is whether the authorities actually cannot accommodate him under any circumstances, or whether they just don't want to?

If the service tunnel is required for operational use then what would that involve? A member of staff to accompany him at all times wouldn't actually be an impossibility, just an inconvenience surely, which could be turned into something positive with the right marketing?

 

[simonw]

It's an odd thing to be 'walking around the world' but not actually doing so as

A) he's missed out great chunks

B) he's used to planes and other transport and he hasn't actually done it in one continuous trip.

Nothing to stop him swimming across the channel taking several days to do so and stopping overnight on a boat as he has done at other places.

 

[Shrop]

It's an odd thing to be 'walking around the world' but not actually doing so as

A) he's missed out great chunks

B) he's used to planes and other transport and he hasn't actually done it in one continuous trip.

Nothing to stop him swimming across the channel taking several days to do so and stopping overnight on a boat as he has done at other places.

To a point you're not wrong, but he hasn't really missed out anything as he's always resumed from where he left off after bureaucracy etc have forced him to divert. This answers your points A and B.

Yes, he could swim across the channel, and of course it wouldn't be all that much of a hardship after everything he's been through, but that isn't my point.

Hmm, I could say more but sadly I'm probably just a tad old fashioned. Most people in modern society are only capable of ticking the right box.

Ah well, at least I enjoyed the good times, and still retain some humour (alongside my frustrations ) about modern society

 

[whoosh]

If he didn't plan to swim the channel from the beginning, and instead assumed he'd get permission from the Channel Tunnel to walk through it, then I'd say that was distinct lack of foresight.

As he's swum a considerable amount previously, it's not a massive hardship given the huge overall challenge he's set himself.

Getlink do not have to be accommodating, and they shouldn't receive criticism for not being so.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

It is not a case of just letting him toddle on his own through the tunnel is it though? Presumably Getlink staff would have to accompany him at all times, arrangements made for a PNB, refreshments etc. - it is not like open countryside. A hassle Getlink could do without, particularly as it sets a precedent for others.

 

[KHCT]

This is actually one of those unfortunate reflections on modern society where someone makes a rather entitled request and then plays victim when they don't get the answer they are looking for. There's been a lot of publicity about this locally, the Hull Daily Mail love a story with a sad face, but most people seem to think the whole thing is daft. As one colleague said to me about him, "I wish I could have spent my prime years doing my own thing".

 

[skyhigh]

Hmm, I could say more but sadly I'm probably just a tad old fashioned. Most people in modern society are only capable of ticking the right box.

I'd say that making a fuss about not getting his own way rather than just getting on it with it isn't particularly old fashioned.

Getlink clearly don't want people walking through their tunnel, there's an alternative method available (swim) so little sympathy from me.

I'd also never heard of the man before this thread, so it's hardly a PR disaster for Getlink.

 

[styles]

I imagine the logistics of the tunnel walk to be not worth it from their point of view.

For starters the tunnel is over 30 miles long, which is 10 hours of walking at the usual walking pace. They clearly can't expect a staff member to spend 10 hours walking the full length of the tunnel so they'd have to position people at a few intervals at least. Obviously they have vehicles so the staff members wouldn't have to walk a return trip but it's still a faff.

Then there's the safety aspect of having a random person spending 10 hours down there. It seems from some reading that the average temperature is 25°C so not exactly cool. The high air pressure can affect the body and they'd be taking a punt on this guy's ability to cope with this for the full walk. If it ended up in evacuation then not only is this risky but it could turn a good story I to bad PR.

I'm not sure how passport control works for people who work in the tunnels but that would need to be setup for him if he's not passing through the normal border control points.

It's all stuff that you could probably make work if you wanted to, but I imagine they've concluded it's not worth the hassle. And as others have said, might set a precedent for people making requests to do the same for all sorts of other challenges.

Fair dos to the guy for trying but I can't hold it against Getlink for saying no sorry.

 

[bluenoxid]

The tunnel is over 30 miles long and there will be the time/distance spent getting to/from the entrance at either end.

What are the toilet facilities like in the middle of the Channel tunnel?

 

[The exile]

“Dear [TOC], I have set myself the task of using every British railway station by train. As [Stanlow & Thornton / IBM / Wedgwood etc] station is currently not served by train but still officially open, please arrange for two successive trains to stop so that I can complete my project”.
Any harm in asking? Probably not. Any grounds for making a fuss when the answer comes back “no”? Think most would agree that there aren’t. Whats the difference?
Someone setting themselves a challenge doesn’t mean that anyone else should be expected to bend any rules or over backwards to help them. No harm in asking whether they will but to be so self-absorbed as to expect special treatment….

 

[zwk500]

Around ten hours walking time (3mph) ought to be sufficient. The question is whether the authorities actually cannot accommodate him under any circumstances, or whether they just don't want to?

If the service tunnel is required for operational use then what would that involve?

The ability to evacuate up to 900 people into it at literally zero notice, then rescuing them with vehicles if necessary. The vehicles are specially designed to fit 2 passing each other in the width of the tunnel with no clearance for a person to stand on the side (see : https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-t...-for-the-channel-tunnel-service-22526251.html), so if Karl was between the emergency and the evacuation point, he could hinder the evacuation of vulnerable people.

A member of staff to accompany him at all times wouldn't actually be an impossibility, just an inconvenience surely, which could be turned into something positive with the right marketing?

A member of staff would not resolve the fundamental issues that having a man on foot would cause in the event of a major incident such as a fire. In particular, if there was a need to evacuate the tunnel immediately, a shuttle would need to be despatched to pick up Karl and take him to the nearest portal which poses 2 challenges - the potential for refusal of the evacuation because he didn't believe he'd be allowed to resume/restart, and the diversion of the evacuation resource to clear the tunnel first, delaying response to vulnerable passengers evacuated off the train.

I'm not sure how passport control works for people who work in the tunnels but that would need to be setup for him if he's not passing through the normal border control points.

Tbf he could do border controls at the Juxtaposed border point in the Eurotunnel Terminal and then be escorted to the service tunnel within the secure area. That's probably the easiest difficulty to resolve.

The last Eurostar from London passes the NR/ET boundary at 2032 (UK time), so would clear the tunnel at about 10pm French time. The last Eurostar from Paris passes the ET/NR boundary at 10pm UK time, so would enter the tunnel at about 10.30 French time.
If Karl Entered the tunnel at 10.00 french time, taking 10 hours to walk it, he'd change time zones halfway through at 03.00 [FR]/02.00 [UK] and exit at 07.00 UK time. The first Eurostar from London passes the NR/ET boundary at 0632. So even if he maintained the average 3mph walking pace throughout, he cannot make the walk during the normal gap in service, when the reduced volume of shuttles might make the evacuation requirements just about tolerable.

Engineering works also are unlikely to block the tunnel for 10+ hours, and even if they did so, having an non-relevant person in the service tunnel is likely to be just as difficult to accommodate.

Eurotunnel have generally tried hard to accommodate special requests such as driving through or cycling through, so I'm inclined to believe that this isn't simply a computer says no/jobsworth issues, but that they genuinely can't accomodate this level of special request.

 

[edwin_m]

Looks like he swam the channel after all: https://uk.yahoo.com/news/man-set-walk-globe-arrives-170003956.html

Karl Bushby, from Hull, walked onto Shakespeare beach, south of Dover, on Monday afternoon 5 October, having swum the Channel on the final leg of his epic journey.

The 57-year-old has covered more than 30,000 miles and was forced to negotiate the waters after Channel Tunnel bosses vetoed a request to access a service tunnel.

 

[styles]

Looks like he swam the channel after all: https://uk.yahoo.com/news/man-set-walk-globe-arrives-170003956.html

If that wasn't bad enough, he's still got to walk back to Hull.

 

[AlterEgo]

I'd also never heard of the man before this thread

Neither has his son, to be fair.

 

[Technologist]

It is not a case of just letting him toddle on his own through the tunnel is it though? Presumably Getlink staff would have to accompany him at all times, arrangements made for a PNB, refreshments etc. - it is not like open countryside. A hassle Getlink could do without, particularly as it sets a precedent for others.

Precedent:




Obviously Chris Froome goes a little faster but frankly they could have helped if that had wanted to, it just makes them look like arseholes. Given that massive externalities that the channel tunnel has imposed on the country as a whole there is a good argument that it should actually be allowing the use of the service tunnel pretty frequently.

IIRC various "explorers" have driven through the service tunnel before as well.

 

[spyinthesky]

He had 28 years to organise this and probably a few years beforehand.
If the answer was always no when he asked then he was always intending to swim!

 

[zwk500]

Obviously Chris Froome goes a little faster but frankly they could have helped if that had wanted to, it just makes them look like arseholes. Given that massive externalities that the channel tunnel has imposed on the country as a whole there is a good argument that it should actually be allowing the use of the service tunnel pretty frequently.

IIRC various "explorers" have driven through the service tunnel before as well.

Being in the tunnel for 1 hour or less is a completely different situation to being in the tunnel for 10 hours.

 

[Falcon1200]

Obviously Chris Froome goes a little faster but frankly they could have helped if that had wanted to, it just makes them look like arseholes.

Chris Froome went quite a lot, not a little, faster, and there are valid reasons for not allowing anyone to walk through the Tunnel. As have been explained already.....