England v France....England win hands down. (Euro Tunnel)

Member Name: Fiver29

Product:	Euro Tunnel
Date:	01/06/09 (189 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Quick

Disadvantages: The French Passport Control

This was our first trip through the Channel Tunnel, and we had absolutely no idea what to expect. We had opted to board one of the early morning trains, which were cheaper than the rest of the day, so when we arrived at the terminal it was very quiet. Reaching the first booth we discovered we needed either the receipt for pre paid tickets or to purchase tickets, although there was no information to let you know you'd need this so early on, had we been getting a later train I think it would have been extremely annoying to sit in a queue only to find you need x,y,z documents, which you could have been gathering together whilst waiting.

Once the booth operator had taken all the details, he pointed up in the direction of the terminal building, and muttered something about being called in five minutes. Whilst the chap was pleasant enough and friendly, he didn't make himself clear, and we drove around to the car park not really knowing what to expect. I understand that they will get a lot of frequent travellers and explaining the procedure is not necessary for them, but as we hadn't known which documents we needed, it seemed obvious to us that we were newbies on the Channel Tunnel circuit. After the ticket booth came the passport booth, this booth was much easier because it was empty and there was no one to show the passports to.

As it turned out the whole procedure was a simple one. We were about 30 minutes early for being called to the train, so we headed into the building for a scout around. At 5am there was very little open, only the Bureau de Change and a small section of the food hall were open. So we bought a rather expensive coffee, which was unfortunately served in paper cups which just spoil the taste of the coffee.

After about 20 minutes the first call went out for our train, so we tottered off back to the car and drove a few meters from the car park to the queue, we were sat in the queue for around 10 minutes as they lined all the cars up ready to head toward the train. Gradually line by line they allowed the cars through to drive onto the train. We were rather lucky and were directed toward the front of the train and were sent to park in one of the carriages used by high sided vehicles. There were 3 cars per carriage in our section, then once all the cars had been put on the train dividing doors were automatically lowered an sealed. The staff made the necessary safety announcements and at the exact time of departure we set off.

The journey to Calais took 35 minutes and whilst it was not the most interesting of journeys, it was certainly the smoothest. Coming out of the train was just as simple, as we were at the front we were one of the first cars off. Passport control seemed just as lax here as we did not have to show our passports on this side of the Channel either, in fact I almost begrudged paying £75 for a pointless document.

Then it was time to come back, and that was a whole different story. Entry to the Eurotunnel area was similar, a booth at the beginning, where the operator kindly told us we could get the earlier train, despite it being a more expensive crossing, if we wished. So we opted for that one to gain an hour on the English side of the channel.

That was the only bit that went smoothly, from the booth we were directed into a queue and sat in this queue for about 15 minutes. It turned out that the queue was just to get into the car park, so we parked and had 30 minutes before the first call for the earlier train. After a quick rush around the terminal to grab a few boxed of wine, we joined a standing queue for a burger as it was 9.30pm and we hadn't eaten since lunch time. Unfortunately our boarding was called when we were two people from the front of the queue, so we missed out on the food, but we since we were getting an earlier train we thought it'd still be okay for getting some food on the other side.

Now we joined to queue for passport control, and what a queue it was! It took so long we missed the earlier train, and ended up on our original train, along with other people who'd actually paid the extra for the early train, and people who were booked on the one after ours. The passports were thoroughly checked on this side of the channel, so at least it was worth buying them.

The long queue did provide some entertainment though, when a mad man trying to queue jump tried to take his car over concrete blocks and took out the bottom of his car. The tongue lashing he was getting from his wife must have been far worse than the thought of the bill for a new exhaust!

The actual train journey was straightforward enough, it did depart a couple of minute late, but after all that queuing, just moving was good enough.

Even though the French side was appalling and badly organised, I think I'd still use the Eurotunnel if I drove to Europe again.

Summary: Since it was paid entirely with Clubcard vouchers, it was certainly worth the money