What's the current situation in Calais? Any Eurostar issues?

[Turtles06]

From what I've been able to read over here in the U.S., there have been strikes/protests/migrant issues in Calais that have resulted in some disruptions to the Eurostar service in recent weeks. It's unclear whether this situation is still going on.

 

We're booked on the Eurostar from Paris to London in late October (arriving in the UK the day prior to a sailing out of Southampton). I know we have more than two months to go, but someone just mentioned this on our Roll Call and I wanted to get a sense from the local experts about what is going on.

 

Thanks!

[Globaliser]

Things are changing every day. Late October? That really is a "sorry, my crystal ball is broken" question!

[Turtles06]

Things are changing every day. Late October? That really is a "sorry, my crystal ball is broken" question!

 

I know! :) My spouse says to just put it aside for now, but my brain is wired differently.

[LondonTowner]

The Eurostar has experienced little disruption. It is Eurotunnel which has been having the problems. Hopefully, by October it will be sorted out. I hope so, as we use Eurotunnel fairly frequently.

[Bob++]

Eurostar is an express train which runs from St Pancras in London to Paris, Lille and Brussels through the tunnel. Trucks and cars going through, on their way to mainland Europe use Le Shuttle, special trains that carry vehicles back and forth. and it is this that has been disrupted and the problems have been mainly confined to the truck transporters which are the target for the migrants..

 

The problems in Calais are twofold - the thousands of migrants camped there who are desperate to get to England, and the striking ferry workers protesting, in the usual French manner, about being made redundant.

 

So far Eurostar has not been significantly affected because the trouble at Calais has been confined to the loading/unloading areas for Le Shuttle - Eurostar trains do not stop there and have gone straight past.

 

The situation is currently calm and it seems that both governments are doing what they can to stop it happening again. By October it is reasonable to assume that the strikers will have resolved their dispute one way or another, and the authorities will have the migrants under better control.

 

The cruisers who are most likely to be affected are those who travel to and from Dover by road. When there are major delays to cross-channel traffic, they use a major highway in Kent as a parking area for the backed up trucks (Operation Stack). This has the knock on effect of diverting a lot of traffic onto the other roads in the area, causing much disruption and delay.

[4774Papa]

Why do so many want to go to Britain, after all France has millions of Muslims?

[LondonTowner]

Because they get free housing and lots of benefits here that they don't receive in other EU countries.

[SteveH2508]

Any prospective migrant who gets onto a Eurostar train successfully, gets signed up for the 2016 Olympic sprint team...:rolleyes:

[Globaliser]

Why do so many want to go to Britain, after all France has millions of Muslims?

Because they get free housing and lots of benefits here that they don't receive in other EU countries.

OT for this forum, but I have to say that this is a load of b@llocks.

 

If you genuinely believe this, I'm surprised that you've fallen for it.

[wowzz]

Leaving aside the contentious issue of the ease [or not] of betting benefits, one of the prime reasons many of the refugees give for wanting to get to the UK is the language.

The majority of the refugees have some knowledge of English, not necessarily very much, but certainly more than French, German, Italian etc.

[Bob++]

Whether or not they actually do get treated better here, the important thing is that they THINK they will. Many also have family or contacts here.

 

Schengen is the reason that they get stuck in Calais - once in the Schengen area they can move around freely but that all stops at Calais.

[4774Papa]

Here is what I found on the internet on the subject.

 

It appears that one of the main reasons is that work is more likely found in the UK.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1523226.stm

[LondonTowner]

4774paps

 

That article is dated 2001. Not exactly recent.

[4774Papa]

4774paps

 

That article is dated 2001. Not exactly recent.

I agree, but it made sense.

[Globaliser]

Leaving aside the contentious issue of the ease [or not] of betting benefits, one of the prime reasons many of the refugees give for wanting to get to the UK is the language.

 

The majority of the refugees have some knowledge of English, not necessarily very much, but certainly more than French, German, Italian etc.

It's also important to understand that this is relevant to those who are trying to get to the UK. But that is not the sum total of all refugees / asylum seekers / migrants. In the UK there is a popular myth that all of them are trying to get from Europe to the UK. However, that is simply untrue. For example, many of them come to Europe from Francophone countries. To them, Francophone European countries are (obviously) more attractive. They don't try to get to the UK because they don't want to come.

 

As Bob++ says, many who head for the UK do so because they have family or friends already here. But that also applies to other European countries, and many choose or prefer to go to a different European country because that's where their family and friends are.

 

To the extent that the UK has more attractions than other European countries, much of that is to do with the fact that London is probably the most cosmopolitan city in Europe. There are plenty of immigrant communities in other big European cities, but London probably has the most varied collection of them, and it's a big place so absolute numbers are much higher. This means that more people will find family or friends here in the UK.

 

There is also often a feeling amongst migrants that the UK has a deeper commitment to tolerance, fairness and justice. To some, that is a further attraction of the UK.

 

But at the end of the day, it is simply wrong to say that they all try to come here rather than go to other European countries. Other European countries take more than we do, both in proportion to the existing population and in some cases also in absolute numbers. And it is certainly wrong to say that they all try to come here because "they get free housing and lots of benefits here that they don't receive in other EU countries". That was never true, and it's even more untrue now than it used to be.

[4774Papa]

Thanks, Globaliser, excellent post.

[wowzz]

Thanks, Globaliser, excellent post.

 

Seconded!

 

With regard to London being the most cosmopolitan city in Europe [if not the world - more diverse I would say than New York], doesn't Boris Johnson like to wind up the French by saying that in terms of French residents, London is the sixth biggest French city!

[RJHNorthyorks]

Well said Globaliser.