• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

The Brexit Thread

I think the problem is most severe at ferries. The UK was never part of Schengen so while passport checks were performed at the border, they were quicker as a simple glance was enough whereas now it's necessary to check the 180 day rule is being complied with and stamp the passport. This must be done for every passenger. At exceptionally busy times it wasn't unheard of for cars to simply be waved through. That absolutely cannot be done anymore as every person's passport must be stamped.

The EES will add further delays when introduced as there will be a need to gather biometrics. Port of Dover estimates ten minutes per vehicle instead of 45-90 seconds.
 
So before brexit you didn’t show your passport or queue at the border? I have never just been ushered through as you say.
Re-entering the UK there is literally no difference.
 
It quite clearly takes more times for the checks now than it did before Brexit. If it's quiet, like it was both times I travelled back from Dunkerque recently, then of course it doesn't cause too much of a problem. It all falls apart when it's busy however and you have long queues for border control. The extra time checking everyone in each vehicle means the queues just get worse and worse and worse.

I really don't think the ports are going to cope when the EES comes in. At peak times you are going to need to arrive at least 3-4 hours before your crossing, and god knows where all these cars are going to queue.
 
Haven't used the Tunnel since Brexit, but the checks were pretty much a glance in to make sure there were the right number of people in the car with an occasional set of questions or full check if unlucky.

Going from 10-20 seconds per car to a minute adds up. Simple as. And the infrastructure in existence is not designed with that in mind; but since the government don't want to admit there's such a problem we've got seemingly zero changes being implemented to adapt and solve the issues.

150 minutes is laughable amount of time to be waiting even before this nonsense.
 
I only use the ferry one a year the rest of the time I’m flying so maybe I’m not the best person to quote on travelling by ferry as I also use the quieter Portsmouth ferry route but there is hardly a difference there in time taken to go through passport control.

Airport wise there is very little difference except the two seconds it takes to stamp a passport at most airports, at the UK border control coming back in there is literally no difference.

150 minutes is a long time but long queues at the Dover crossing are not exactly unheard of even before Brexit.
Brexit is to blame for many things but travel is not really one of them, at most it’s an inconvenience for people like me who end up needing a new passport every couple of years as it’s now full of stamps.
 
BigT said:
Brexit is to blame for many things but travel is not really one of them, at most it’s an inconvenience for people like me who end up needing a new passport every couple of years as it’s now full of stamps.
Click to expand...
"Queuing time at French border will 'double' with new fingerprint scheme" - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...der-checks-uk-france-queuing-time-double-ees/ (Paywall free: - https://archive.is/qxNMr )

"Post-Brexit checks contributed to Dover delay, says No 10" - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65167911

"Easter delays likely for Dover coach passengers as post-Brexit checks raise 'real risks' of future border complications" - https://news.sky.com/story/easter-d...risks-of-future-border-complications-12850501

"Travel chaos is ‘the new normal’ after Brexit, British tourists are warned" - https://www.theguardian.com/politic...rmal-after-brexit-british-tourists-are-warned

"Brexit may have delivered a new blow to the rights of British travellers" - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/advice/brexit-flights-britain-holiday-european-court-justice/ - (Paywall free: - https://archive.is/PcAJi )

"Rishi Sunak seeking to end post-Brexit travel delays in new deal with Brussels" - https://www.standard.co.uk/news/pol...rder-brexit-holiday-rishi-sunak-b1076482.html

"Eurostar trains forced to run with empty seats due to Brexit passport rules" - https://www.theguardian.com/politic...s-brexit-passport-rules-london-paris-brussels (Peak time Eurostar trains are daily forced to run across the Channel with hundreds of empty seats because border police cannot process passports quick enough.)

"Channel travel chaos continues with ‘holiday hell’ at Eurotunnel" - https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jul/24/dover-travel-chaos-eurotunnel-channel-delays

BigT said:
Airport wise there is very little difference except the two seconds it takes to stamp a passport at most airports, at the UK border control coming back in there is literally no difference.
Click to expand...
"Tenerife Brexit chaos sees Brits stuck in huge passport queues as EU citizens walk by" - https://www.mirror.co.uk/travel/europe/tenerife-brexit-chaos-sees-brits-31433108 - Just incase the Mirror is too Remain for you, here's the Express on the same story - https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1834632/brexit-tenerife-airport

"Brits facing airport chaos after major change to European Union border laws" - https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1847084/european-union-airport-rules-british-passport-queues

"Brexit ‘completely’ to blame for airport chaos, says Ryanair boss" - https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...port-flights-disruption-ryanair-b2105790.html

--

Just because you personally haven't experienced it, it doesn't mean that your experiences are the universal truth. It is demonstrably true that Brexit is to blame for travel issues and delays; even the Daily Express and The Telegraph have begrudgingly accepted it.
 
rob666 said:
I wonder which has actually contributed more to travel delays so far this year, climate change or brexit?
Click to expand...
Globally, climate change. UK > Rest of the world, unsure. Rest of the world > UK, unsure.

An argument could be made that climate change contributed in some ways to the call for a Brexit vote, with increased perceived 'red tape' and 'control' by 'foreign' organisations trying to get a handle on it, and emigration caused by environmental damage in some countries, leading to the usual racist rhetoric.
 
I don't know anything, but for my one 'summer' holiday last year in July, going through the airport in Spain did take longer than pre-Brexit, having to be filtered down the 'non-EU' path and then further filtered into 'families only' and 'other passenger' lanes, queued for passport check with the machines (so much faff), then queued again for the passport stamp.

Admittedly, none of this caused a huge delay, and the airport clearly had it well planned out to get people through as quickly as possible, but it still added time on getting through the airport, whereas previously, to Brexit where your passport was glanced at once.

Not enough to ruin my holiday but enough for me to mutter 'FFS, Brexit' whilst walking/queuing through.

Obviously, the ports are where the more significant issues lie with travel.
 
James said:
Admittedly, none of this caused a huge delay, and the airport clearly had it well planned out to get people through as quickly as possible, but it still added time on getting through the airport, whereas previously, to Brexit where your passport was glanced at once.
Click to expand...
Yep pre-brexit when we were on a holiday to Gran Canaria, the passport control people barely glanced at passports, to the point where a friend who didn't have a UK passport and therefore needed a stamp to get back into the UK for visa reasons had to tell the agent to do it. Whereas now it is a more thorough process.
 
it’s January and I’m on my second “this drug is running out” email this year.

Used to happen once in a blue moon pre-Brexit, now it’s multiple times a month….. but brexit apparently is fine 🤯
 
Apparently a bed of shellfish with all kinds of species being found in the Thames Estuary is now being touted as a “brilliant Brexit bonus”:

Excuse me if I’m missing something here, but how is the discovery of a bed of shellfish attributable to Brexit? Is it not just a coincidence that the fisherman who found it happened to find it after the UK left the EU as opposed to when the UK was in the EU?

Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/en..._659ebf86e4b0bfe5ff65843d?ncid=APPLENEWS00001
 
It has about as much to do with Brexit as Jesus Christ (nothing). I would however want to question whether those shellfish are safe to eat given the state of the Thames Estuary...
 
Matt N said:
Apparently a bed of shellfish with all kinds of species being found in the Thames Estuary is now being touted as a “brilliant Brexit bonus”:

Excuse me if I’m missing something here, but how is the discovery of a bed of shellfish attributable to Brexit? Is it not just a coincidence that the fisherman who found it happened to find it after the UK left the EU as opposed to when the UK was in the EU?

Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/en..._659ebf86e4b0bfe5ff65843d?ncid=APPLENEWS00001
Click to expand...

Rumour has it that the shellfish were completely "British". They have white flesh, frequently say "Jolly good old boy", have Union Jack's painted on their outer shell, with a portrait of both Nigel Farage and Jacob Reece-Mogg depicted on the inside. They rushed to the shore to phone their local MP to announce their existence from a red telephone box in Essex after they sunk a boat of those dastardly asylum seekers traversing the channel from France.

Before Brexit, French Navy patrols held them hostage on the seabed by order of Angel Merkel and Ursula von der Leyen, and forced them to speak Polish.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top