Brittany Ferries update

[al_yrpal]

I was wondering about the return journey from the UK to Morroco. I suppose trucks have to return empty as I cant imagine we export much to North Africa at the moment. Probably more coming from France which was once the Colonial Power for that part of the world.

Al

[jack1]

I’v just booked with (Brittany Ferries) no problems,with cycle May 12th 2021

[jack1]

Sorry that’s from (Portsmouth to Caen May12th 2021 fingers Crossed.

[Andrew-l]

Is international travel allowed by then? I thought that was still unclear?

[nsew]

I’v just booked with (Brittany Ferries) no problems,with cycle May 12th 2021

From the CEO of Brittany Ferries
I want to be clear about what Boris Johnson said in relation to international travel. Firstly we must await the report of the Global Travel Taskforce on 12 April. This will make “recommendations aimed at facilitating a return to international travel as soon as is possible”. The British Government will then take a decision on when travel restrictions can be lifted, but this will be no sooner than 17 May (step 3 of the government plan).

17 May is therefore the key date, a date that vindicates the very difficult decision we had to make not to return certain ships to routes in March as we had originally planned.

Of course the plan is not the set-in-stone clarity that we would all like. We understand – of course – that the Covid situation is changeable. And I hope we have offered peace of mind for those of you who have already chosen to book with us.

[ANTONISH]

I hadn't taken notice of your departure date and I'm afraid you have to have an approved reason for travel.
I don't think a holiday will be an approved reason - so what you are proposing may be illegal.
Personally I'm as keen as anyone to travel to France but the Covid situation is so volatile that I'm not expecting to travel before July or later.

[jack1]

Hi,yes your absolutely correct,I have changed my dates to June even that could be a problem.Thank you for your reply

[albal1]

Re: brittany ferries, cap finistair, Pont aven and bretagne are moored up at le Havre. Barfleur been parked at caen best part of 12 months.

[simonhill]

The Chairman of Brittany Ferries was on Radio 4 Today program this morning.

When asked about people travelling to Amber countries, he said very few travelling at the moment. He was then asked if the booking staff checked reason for travel and "allowed" people to book even though they were going to Amber countries on holiday. He said it's not for staff to question the customers.

[horizon]

The Chairman of Brittany Ferries was on Radio 4 Today program this morning.

When asked about people travelling to Amber countries, he said very few travelling at the moment. He was then asked if the booking staff checked reason for travel and "allowed" people to book even though they were going to Amber countries on holiday. He said it's not for staff to question the customers.

If that were the case and the BBC interviewer really did ask that question, then it has to be asked what his/her motive was for doing so, whether they were deliberately confusing listeners by conflating political exhortation with UK law or they themselves didn't understand the difference, whether the interviewer had been instructed to do so by their controller and therefore the controller's own motive, why the interviewer thought (or wanted to give the impression to listeners) that the booking clerk or Brittany Ferries have the right to ask that question at any level of the firm or had the authority or legal power either to ask the reason or indeed act on the information then given and whether indeed the whole interview was appropriate, useful or relevant or was simply an attempt to deliberately mislead listeners as to the status of the law in this regard given that travel to amber list countries from May 17th is wholly legal albeit subject to the conditions of testing and quarantine.

[simonhill]

Blimey, that's some sentence!

I apologise M'lud and should have said " he said something like". I've just listened again on BBC Sounds (its about 15 minutes in) and I did get the gist of it correct. Pretty good as I was only half awake at 06:15 this morning. Listening again, the interviewer did lay out the Govt's position before the interview ie it's legal, but don't do it (my paraphrase).

My point was that if cyclists so fancy, they could book a ticket and be pedalling in France if they wanted. I thought that might be useful information.

The Boss man also said that he expected most bookings to be for after June 21st when he expected the countries to be in Green zone.

[mattheus]

Germany is Amber now. This might be helpful testimony to some:
A friends 19yo son has just flown London-to-Germany to stay with family (for unknown period).

He did a lateral flow test before boarding [came up negative - they typically take less than 20mins from opening the packaging]. No other checks/tests. Plane was mainly business travellers, but quite a few parents with young kids.
In Germany, breezed through immigration as normal. Then logged onto Gov website to register his lateral flow result, which told him he didn't need to quarantine in Germany. Driven home by family members in Germany.

Now, to *return* tomorrow I think he would need to quarantine in the UK. But his parents are hoping that he will be in Germany long enough to move to Green. Nothing is certain ...

[horizon]

My point was that if cyclists so fancy, they could book a ticket and be pedalling in France if they wanted. I thought that might be useful information.

Thank you for that.

The BBC said in their introduction that confusion had arisen over whether you should or should not travel on holiday to an amber list country. "Should", as I suspect they well know, isn't the correct word: the correct word is "can or cannot". Dom O'Connell then said, "it is of course legal etc" but went on to talk about people being respectful etc. The chair of BF then continued in the same vein.

There are of course impediments to travel. On my first trip to France last summer, quarantine was lifted while I was away, on my second trip, quarantine was reinstated but I had allowed for that. The greater impediment AFAICS is the need for PCR testing when coming back (three tests AFAIK) and two to enter France. That could be about £500 worth of tests. But it is legal. I'm not sure what purpose it serves for the BBC to imply that people shouldn't travel - that must be left to those who can legitimately hold and express a point of view on this, which excludes BBC presenters.

[Traction_man]

The Chairman of Brittany Ferries was on Radio 4 Today program this morning.

When asked about people travelling to Amber countries, he said very few travelling at the moment. He was then asked if the booking staff checked reason for travel and "allowed" people to book even though they were going to Amber countries on holiday. He said it's not for staff to question the customers.

it seems there is still a problem booking with a bicycle with Brittany Ferries from Ireland to Spain/France but not from the UK, I tried some random dates in September from Rosslare to Bilbao and although it's possible to make a booking on this route with a vehicle if 'bicycle' is selected instead then 'no sailings' comes up on the online booking form

all the best,

Keith

[Jdsk]

Two new ferries ordered: gas, battery and mains powered.
https://twitter.com/BrittanyFerries/sta ... 9092632580

Jonathan

PS: I haven't seen anything on Poole/Morocco since the initial announcement.