Border controls in EU

[matt]

Had a quick look in the forum but can't find answer to this simple question (but happy to be directed to what I couldn't find), when travelling through French/Spanish/German borders, I can't remember if a passport is needed and if I need to remove helmet? I gone through on coaches and I don't recall passports being viewed. What is the process? Thanks!

[Mervinh]

Dont think you even get stopped now just ride straight through i beleive
we never stop with the truck when crossing the french /belgian/dutch borders
merv

[Jenna]

yep you rarely get stopped but if you do its a legal requirement to be able to produce both the documentation for the vehicle and yourself.

[Recycler]

yep you rarely get stopped but if you do its a legal requirement to be able to produce both the documentation for the vehicle and yourself.

As above. Although the borders are 'open' many of the checkpoints are still in place and sometimes manned. Other recognised crossing routes are sometimes used for spot checks. I've been stopped by the Spanish Police crossing from France and by French Customs on a backroad in the Pyrenees arriving from Spain. Switzerland still mans checkpoints as they're not in the EU, I've been stopped by the French crossing from there also.

The Spanish checked all documentation.

[Xander]

I dont know about the eurostart/tunnel but on the plymouth ferry we had to show passports to get on and off the ferry. and had to remove helmets / sunglasses (and we wear flipface). WE were also asked if we had our V5 doc but only asked. We carried a good colour copy of the V5, they will never know the difference and I am not carrying the most important document regarding the ownership of the Anubis!

[iswoolley]

There's two things here, the EU and Schengen. Some countries within Europe signed up the Schengen Agreement in 1985 to make it easier to travel within those countries. The UK isn't part of Schengen, which is why we need passports to travel to France, Germany, etc. which are part of it. Whereas a Frenchman can waltz into Germany with only his personal ID. There's something like 30 countries in the Agreement, but as I recall some haven't actually implemented it yet.

In the UK, as with the rest of Europe, it's actually part of the law that you carry your vehicle documents with you. But conversely the UK is one of the last places where we don't have to carry personal ID. So if you're travelling around Europe it's best to have both with you, but in most cases wait until you're stopped by the police before volunteering your papers.

(On the subject of photocopies, I tend to take a couple of copies of my documents with me, and if stopped present a copy, but make it clear that it is a copy, otherwise they may get a little shirty about forgeries/fraud/etc.)

[Jenna]

so far never had any problems in western Europe, the Spanish police do like to pull people over and do random checks but this has always been quick and polite. the further east you go it gets very different... few years back was held up with a race truck on the Norway/Sweden border as they went through every piece of paper, but again polite and no problems.

Germany and further east is a very different story though, been held up for over 24 hours many times before the polish were an EEC state, they are **** hot on dotting EVERY 'i' and crossing EVERY 't'. get it wrong and your in trouble!!!

In Poland its a legal requirement to have the original of ALL your paperwork on you at all times, if you don't expect big fines... same for other Balkan countries and if you head into Russia.

in short if you don't cheat the system you wont have any trouble, don't even think of doing bribes ( its now common practise to use this to 'shame' and make a big public fuss over it, one guy in morocco was jailed for a $5 bribe!)

[Dee Duble Yuh]

A tip I heard is to scan your major documents (passport, V5 etc) and e-mail them to yourself. If you can access your e-mail via the web, then you can print a spare copy at any Internet Cafe. In the event that your documents get lost/stolen you can more easily obtain replacements by showing the British Consulate details of the original. Include your vehicle and travel insurance documents too to help you make a claim. It avoids the need to carry photocopies.

[Jenna]

A tip I heard is to scan your major documents (passport, V5 etc) and e-mail them to yourself. If you can access your e-mail via the web, then you can print a spare copy at any Internet Cafe. In the event that your documents get lost/stolen you can more easily obtain replacements by showing the British Consulate details of the original. Include your vehicle and travel insurance documents too to help you make a claim. It avoids the need to carry photocopies.

never heard of this before but a top idea.... 10/10 that guy!!!!!

[Xander]

A tip I heard is to scan your major documents (passport, V5 etc) and e-mail them to yourself. If you can access your e-mail via the web, then you can print a spare copy at any Internet Cafe. In the event that your documents get lost/stolen you can more easily obtain replacements by showing the British Consulate details of the original. Include your vehicle and travel insurance documents too to help you make a claim. It avoids the need to carry photocopies.

It is a good idea but it is better to put them in to a password protected photo site (like photobucket/picassa online...ect) as emails are very easy to crack, also in most computers if you open an email attachment a copy of that attachment is saved to the hard drive (even if you say no. this is how they catch most computer crims), so an unscrupulous cyber-cafe owner will have access to your docs, where as an on line site you can print directly from bypassing the hard drive.