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Iscariot
offlineMember
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-20990965
Erm, have I got it rongue, we're in the EEC, you don't need a passport, just proof of identity, to travel to another EEC country. A modern driving licence with photo will do. Or am I antiquated and need to catch up on anti-terrorism law?
beau-jolly
offlineMember
Last time I went to France it was with the vicar on a sailing boat. No-one checked us in when we landed and no one checked us when we got back either. That was Cherbourg and Poole. There must be bloody millions of people moving about without passports being checked.
When we landed in Poole and strolled off into the town I did wonder why more illegals don't come in that way. So much more comfortable than being strapped to a lorry. The harbour authorities may have been expecting us but it would have been so easy to come ashore at Studland, say, instead.
The All New Jeni B
offlineMember
NA is right, It's communities within the Schengen Agreement Zone who can travel with just photo ID.
The UK and Eire, along with some of the Scandinavian countries, opted out because of us being an island and it therefore being too risky to allow such free movement.
If memory serves, and it should since I sat this exam in December, it's only across land borders that it applies.
beau-jolly
offlineMember
Jeni: That doesn't expain why there are no passport checks in marinas though. I don't suppose there are passport checks on all the minor roads in Europe either. I think you can fly from England to Scotland with photo ID at the moment. After my comments on men in skirts I'm not risking it though.
The All New Jeni B
offlineMember
I would imagine that they conduct random checks though. Certainly some of the bigger marinas have checks, although it's probably not viable, nor possible, to have Borders Agency staff at every single harbour or marina.
Don't know if you can fly within the UK with just photo ID, whenever we've caught a shuttle it's been to travel on abroad, so we've needed to show full passport.
dvo4fun
offlineMember
A few years ago flew in a 4-seater 'plane from Liverpool to Douglas IOM and had to be time-checked out and in by Special Branch. Mind you, it was at the time of 'the troubles' (what a quaint phrase) and we might otherwise have been planning to drop off some semtex en route.
beau-jolly
offlineMember
I don't remember having to show my passport on the ferry to Dublin or on the fast cat to France. I think the border agency just work on intelligence now.
Arriving in Poole at midnight on the cat a few years ago there was a sign saying "Anything to declare? Please ring this number" FFS! You would have to leave the queue, park over by a portacabin and wait for a customs man to get out of his pajamas, then persuade him to let you give HMRC some cash. As my only transport now is a van with "wine shop" written all over it and registered at a pub I expect I would be stopped and strip searched.
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