Travelling to Europe by car ? Operation Brock is back

MrsStepford

There's a contraflow in place on M20 and stacked trucks BUT the concrete barrier isn't in place, just cones. It began on Wednesday and there have been three accidents so far, just before or in the contraflow, including a truck fire. 

If travelling to Europe before or during Easter, be prepared for long queues and have plenty of water, games, movies, music, books for youngsters. Take breaks in motorway service stations whenever you can. Listen to local radio stations for traffic reports. Be prepared for diversions from Ashford and queues starting before Maidstone.

Please dispose of nappies, bags & bottles of urine and poo in loos at motorway service stations, petrol stations and truck stops NOT on grass verges. We don't want our council tax being used to clear up human waste !  It costs £600,000 per year, just to do the A20 verges between Folkestone & Dover.

You won't be able to travel via Le Shuttle or ferries without a booking. Please be aware that rules have changed and only citizens of EU member states can travel without registration on ETIAS.

f4phixeruk

ETIAS is currently NOT in operation. Just been to the website and they arent collecting information yet

https://travel-europe.europa.eu/etias_en

eskbanker

MrsStepford said:

Please be aware that rules have changed and only citizens of EU member states can travel without registration on ETIAS.

Do you have a source for that, given official guidance about the 2025 introduction of ETIAS:

ETIAS is currently not in operation and no applications are collected at this point

https://travel-europe.europa.eu/etias_en

When does ETIAS enter into force?

It is expected that the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) will be operational from mid-2025.

https://travel-europe.europa.eu/etias/faqs-etias_en

Lavendyr

Thanks, @MrsStepford, it sounds as though you have a great understanding as to how children work and you are clearly very sympathetic as to the plight of a child that needs to go to the toilet when in a traffic standstill for a long period of time, and to the stress a parent faces in these situations too. 

Get over yourself. It's not anyone's fault when people get stuck in traffic, least of all the "youngsters". Parents do always encourage toilet breaks at service stations but you should know they are few and far between and you can be stuck for hours on that stretch of road. Perhaps you might encourage your council or local MP to provide more rest stops and bins along the Brock/Stack route. What you don't need to do is lecture those of us who do our best to abide by the rules but who also have children who simply, sometimes, need to "go". And yes, we do keep our rubbish as best we can in the car until a rubbish bin materialises, so perhaps that is what you are really upset about. Again, more bins = good.