gocro Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 We decided not to risk the 7 hours delay last night and opted to go to Canterbury park and ride , excellent quite location and shuttle bus all for £3. Tipped up at seven this morning and allocated a slot for 8.50, now may be 11.30 at the earliest no hard information as to departure. I know they have problems but keeping them to themselves is not helpful ,this is the mushroom treatment we expect from airlines Refunds for ferries were being offered yesterday, wish I'd taken it up now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 was all over the news yesterday..train broke down in tunnel, french train came, evacuated everyone, took them to french end and they have to wait for their train with vehicles..hope its sorted by next saturday for our crossing.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zydeco Joe Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 Not great service and you pay for better than this. Only trouble with the Canterbury park and ride is it closes at 8.00 and I did not get to it till after that in December last year and had to fine a spot in the dark, also not good. Good luck with the rest of your trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 Zydeco Joe - 2014-07-08 11:09 AM Not great service and you pay for better than this... What else could they do?...It doesn't make any odds how much you pay..If a fully loaded train had broken down in a tunnel, it needs evacuating and then shifting..... ..and a couple of hours delay doesn't sound that bad..? I'm sure that at some time or other, due to RTAs (RTCs?)most of us have sat on motorways for longer than that.... (This isn't Star Trek..they can't teleport it out of the way...(lol) ). Hopefully you're well on your way by now gocro...Have fun. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zydeco Joe Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 pepe63 - 2014-07-08 2:48 PM Zydeco Joe - 2014-07-08 11:09 AM Not great service and you pay for better than this... What else could they do?...It doesn't make any odds how much you pay..If a fully loaded train had broken down in a tunnel, it needs evacuating and then shifting..... ..and a couple of hours delay doesn't sound that bad..? I'm sure that at some time or other, due to RTAs (RTCs?)most of us have sat on motorways for longer than that.... (This isn't Star Trek..they can't teleport it out of the way...(lol) ). Hopefully you're well on your way by now gocro...Have fun. ;-) Might not be Star Trek but he did pay for better communication than he appears to have had. We all know how frustrating not knowing what is happening and lots of time this can be sorted out with just a bit of thought and it makes good PR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billggski Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 Recent trips on the tunnel indicate it is starting to look a bit shabby, with their finance problems I wonder if maintenance is what it should be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 3 years ago we waited 8 hours at Christmas for a train *-)..............the problem apparently was the wrong kind of snow :-S................ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 It was a signalling problem apparently, an everyday occurrence on London train/underground networks. Have only been delayed once by tunnel and that for 2 hrs...Ferries? I cant count on both hands the times we have been delayed! worse was when gearbox failed on return from Spain and we had to drive all the way back up from Santander.... tunnel so easy to change bookings on line...just changed our Saturday crossing to Monday..took less then 5 minutes..tunnel every time for us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggyd Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 In 20+ crossings with the Tunnel we have never had a delay or any problem on the train, this year coming back was the first time we couldn't get an earlier slot because it was so busy. :-) I must say I haven,t noticed it getting shabby its no different to when we first crossed (lol) or is it my eye,s ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolandrat Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Using the Tunnel is so easy. This year we booked one way to Santander with Brittany Ferries as we weren't sure how long we wanted to be away for so after a couple of months we decided to come home via the Tunnel and because we hadn't booked previously we got hammered with the price for a single trip. In future we'll make sure that we book the return in advance. It was a very expensive experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Doing a sample trip. I can not see any difference between booking one way, or a return in price., unless of course you use Tesco vouchers, then it has to booked in UK . we have used the tunnel twice First time Ok only us and a coach on the train, as vehicles. second time , we got there well in time for our booked train, only to be given a later one, which then was cancelled and we had to wait for the next train. No indication as to why the booked time not honoured. we vowed never to use tunnel again, as it is not convienient for us living within ten mins of Portsmouth,ferry and taking 3 hours (if lucky with traffic) to get to Folkestone. would rather use my Tesco vouchers on something else.Taking into account the cost of fuel on both sides of the pond, as we usually go via Brittany to friends, just not worth the hassle. i can see the advantage if you have animals with you, and if you are bad sailors. Buit not for us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HymerVan Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Last year I needed hospital treatment in Eastern Hungary (which incidentally was excellent and covered by EHIC). I was discharged on the basis that I promised to return directly to the UK. "Directly" was an 1850 mile drive and I arrived at the tunnel two days later and three weeks earlier than my return booking. I explained the circumstances but was advised that it was a bank holiday Monday and all trains were full, however they would "do their best" Their best turned out to be immediate embarkation subject to a surcharge of 29euro which I happily paid. I remain a great fan of the tunnel. :-o :-o : Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gocro Posted July 10, 2014 Author Share Posted July 10, 2014 Arrived Paris absolutely knackered. Finally boarded and left Angleterre 12.30 four and a half hours later, BBC still saying 2 hour delay tunnels website varied between no delay and 3 hours. I love the tunnel it's just their communication s I hate. This Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliffy Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 We returned yesterday via the tunnel. It is an excellent service. We use Tesco vouchers but we both commented that it is well worth paying the full price as the difference between the cost and the cost ferries is not that great. And it saves us an over night stop over near dover on the way out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madge Gentle Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 If you've never used the Tunnel this video may give you some idea of what to expect - The video is 27 minutes long and the picture quality is better if you click on the 'Cog' (bottom right of Youtube video) and select 1080p HD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 Never been a fan of the tunnel prefer to relax on a ferry. I got completely put of it a couple of years ago I was doing some contract work in Brussels went via the tunnel in a VW Transporter after we came off the train found indicators, cruise control, central locking and other things all not working. After frantic phone calls to various VW dub dealers in UK to no avail decided to limp to nearest VW dealer (fun driving in France with no indicators) on route stopped at supermarket. Came out 15 min later everything working again. We can only assume the pressure wave you get when entering the tunnel tripped a sensor but VW dealers didn't have a clue. The Transporter in question has had a few more trips through the tunnel without incident. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 We came back 'early' on Wed night FOC even though we weren't actually due to return until Thu morning at 9:20. :-D We thought we'd go and get the dogs passport paperwork sorted on Wed evening so we didn't have to mess about in the morning, so once they were done we thought we'd see if we could get an evening crossing instead and the girl in the booth offered us 19:50 for no charge, with nothing available before hand, even for a fee. Having around 2 hours to kill we duly went round to the car park and decided to have tea (one pot wonder - tinned stewed steak, carrot and spuds with some nice French bread and butter). We'd just started to eat it when our crossing letter 'disappeared' off the departures board - we had letter 'H' which had been showing that loading would start in X mins, then it was gone and the list went straight from 'G' to 'P', with the last call for 'G' being shown!!! After double checking we hadn't read it wrong, I quickly said for hubby to drive round to the boarding area and then on to the 'gas check' bit where we explained that the 'H' had disappeared, we were then sent on to the boarding lanes - the other vehicles had all gone through bar us, a van in front of us, and a bus. After a few minutes the bus was sent through and everything stopped again and the board said that boarding had ended, so we sat down to our nosh again and within 10 seconds our barrier went up! Chris quickly drove through and we got on the 19:20 train being the last vehicle loaded ... there was a MH behind us but he was too big to fit in the car length gap behind so no doubt had to wait until the 19:50 crossing. Whilst we were happy to get across even earlier than we expected, it would have been less fraught it we'd been informed to do what we did rather than just 'risk' it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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