Refugee issues
Hi all,
We're hoping to travel to France in April in our motorhome either by ferry or eurotunnel which we have done before. However we;re a little concerned this year about the possibility of aggro. or interference from refugees upon our return . Has anyone any
experiences of this or are our concerns unfounded ?
Dorsie
Comments
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Past experience is that they have been odd occasions when refugees have tried to rush a ferry, stampeded tunnel trains, brought traffic to a standstill by walking through the tunnel or by blocking the approach roads. The French farmers have done that too more than once. But honestly who knows what the situation will be by April. That would be fortune telling. You may be delayed, you may be alarmed, but you won't be hurt.
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We had four return crossings last year, and used Calais for two of them, Eurotunnel at Coquelles for another, and Le Havre for the fourth. Of those crossings we had no disruption on any outward journey, and on only one return crossing.
Guess where we had problems - yes, Le Havre! Not from migrants themselves, but from customs staff who were checking each vehicle inside and out, from top to bottom. This led to long delays in the queues - and apparently they were looking for migrants, because
some had got through the western ports to Portsmouth.0 -
I would love to take our van over to France and beyond but the migrant crisis has put me right off. I put this down to being a twitter user. You hear of far more problems via that medium than ever make it onto our news channels in the UK. Its going to reach
breaking point this year and they just don't know what to do about it.0 -
I would love to take our van over to France and beyond but the migrant crisis has put me right off. I put this down to being a twitter user. You hear of far more problems via that medium than ever make it onto our news channels in the UK. Its going to reach
breaking point this year and they just don't know what to do about it.You are more likely to see 'refugee' problems on the beaches of Turkey, Greece, Italy, and Spain than you will in Calais, and yet few people seem to be saying that tourists shouldn't visit those countries.
We are booked to go again very shortly and it won't put me off. I look to my own experiences for guidance, rather than Twitter, and as I said, we've never had problems in Calais.
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last year were held up for operation stack for hour at dover,only saw few migraints about when got out of port and we stayed in calais for our usual wine run on way back and never saw any.certainly will not put us off.playing into their hands if folk do.
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Finlay
Please don't let the reports in the media spoil your plans for a european holiday. 99.99% of the media stories are blown up out of all proportion. We too used the UK ports four times last year. The only time we saw any evidence of migrants was at the railway
station in Passau Germany where many were being given clothing and food. It was all very civilised. Enjoy your holiday in Europe and don't worry.0 -
, NO problems today !!0 -
We used the tunnel last July and were held up be "opperation stack" for seven hours on our outward journey, this knocked all our plans forward by the same seven hours so and spoiled a few bookings on the way south! We were so worried about coming home for
the following three weeks only to get on an one hour earlier tunnel back over. Gonna give it a miss this year, and hope it sorts itself out soon!!0 -
The only noticeable thing when we drove through Calais over the weekend, was increased numbers of police along the side of the autoroute, more fencing, and no sign of any temporary tents or sleeping bags and not a single skinny young man sheltering under
road bridges or walking along the verges.0 -
Whatever our concerns may be about any "hassle" at the Channel Ports, I'm sure they pale into insignificance compared to the "Concerns" those refugees fleeing violence have for their and their families future.
What a insult to France, Italy, Germany and Spain, where these people came from/through!!!!
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Why should some refugees in mainland europe inhibit a UK citizen from holidaying there.
Are you going to be Killed ---- No
Are you going to be robbed -- Maybe--- ( that can happen in this country as well ).
Will you see poor distressed foreign people -- Yes
Will it spoil your holiday ---- No ( unless you are of the bleeding heart brigade )
As others have said - life is not a rehearsal, go abroad and enjoy yourself.
K
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