It is the passport control that is mandatory. How that is achieved is the thing.:)
But if they are not there at the time you PNed them to say you would be there you need to telephone the number.
It looks like in trying to give the telephone number for both French phones and non French phones ie adding the 0033 they have missed the 27 in the UK version an no one has proof read the notice.
French mobile numbers normally have 10 digits.
Capitaine wrote:
Internationally it should be this:
Well spotted, they should have tested the number 
If you ever need something on phone/email you can use this tool (before anyone rant : it’s not in AIP, they can’t give correct numbers, why we can’t get a stamp, how pilots can find this…), it comes handy if handlers/operators ask SIA to remove phone/email direct contacts from AIP/VAC
FYI a friend landed at Calais yesterday, and no one was at customs, so they didnt get a passport stamp (I dont think they called the number). They went on to Amien for an overnight and then onto LeTouquet today. Apparently LeTouque Customs gave them lots of grief about not having a stamp and told them that if no one is at Calais they are not allowed to enter the country at that point.
Shows what a pain this has become for UK pilots.
Also, on a somewhat related note, I recently happened to find this for Calais, which means they do sort of enforce the 24h (in the law) instead of the 2h (written in the AIP and useless website).
With all due respect to you, whats written above is complete garbage, I have been there twice in the past week from the UK, both times with 2 hours notice, and was met both times by 2 very nice ladies from immigration, who could not have been more pleasant, absolutely no hassle.
Presumably the writer of that rubbish is, for some absurd reason, clearly trying to put off UK pilots flying to Calais.
As for the ‘angry guy’ that is also garbage, I havnt met him yet despite having flown there regularly for the past 30 years.
As you see, when you look, the internet is full of BS, where someone with [take your pick] bad mood, bad behavior, wrong expectations, experiences something bad and it is carried further and further by others.
I found many of these myths in flying
The horror stories reported here and elsewhere became fairytales, one by one ;-) just do it and be friendly, yet clear, responsive/flexible and assertive.
(It’s like a negotiation course)
To any Brit who has gotten one of these stamps in their passport, what does the stamp actually say? (I and my family are all EU citizens so have no skin in this. Just curious)
Looks like country, transportation, date, reference number for the person stamping, place, whether entering or leaving…
Well, this thread is a mixture of things. The nature of GA is that we tend to deal with all kinds of individuals, not working in the streamlined system which airlines use, and mostly not working in the very efficient and friendly system which bizjets use (that’s because GA goes to huge trouble to avoid “handling” and this is the fundamental reason why airports often don’t like us), and thus experiences vary.
Above, I tried to find out more from Calais, which is why I posted above “could a French person please draft me a suitable email which I can send to them?” and guess what. Nobody could be bothered! So what do you expect? People sit on their bums and expect others to serve them good information. EuroGA is a community; it is not a €300/year newspaper. But clearly Calais did “know something”. It could be that they didn’t want to get into a forum debate; practically everybody in the aviation business hates forums, and often for a good reason.
I had a discussion with someone today who knows this topic from the legal POV and apparently it is a Schengen regulation that you must meet the police at the “Schengen border” (which is a hilarious concept really – is the EU some sort of island of elite people, guarded with a double 10m high fence with anti personnel mines in between?). But against this you have the “aviation universe” where a “PN” (prior notice, not a physical meeting) is requested in the AIP. So the AIP info is basically illegal, but of course nobody is going to start digging around this.
The bit about people trying to get home early is common everywhere.
The bit about almost nobody speaking English is also common; in aviation only the tower is required to have ELP. In practice, handlers tend to be good too (they have to be for bizjets 
).
It is possible somebody posted pure garbage but it would surprise me that somebody was specifically trying to stop people going to Calais. Bosco – where did you find that report? Was it on the SD database, like the report further back this thread?
What is much more common is that somebody has reposted a 3rd hand report, and/or there is more to the story (like, the guy p1ssed somebody off, got into trouble for it, but obviously isn’t going to disclose that bit).
The post by KevWal above is plausible. OK; it is his only post since he joined up months ago but lots of people post only negative stuff. I doubt LFAT police would give anyone serious “grief” so this is prob99 a 3rd hand thing; they tend to be pretty laid back. They often found mismatched stamps in my passport but after thumbing through it for a minute they just give up.
We will periodically see these reports, especially in France due to the peculiar (apparently politically motivated, though nobody who knows wants to post details) working practices there. In France there is an institutional hate of brexit but this stuff predates brexit by best part of 10 years.
Also if “meeting up” was strictly enforced, most of France would be closed to non-EU traffic immediately. The police there want to do the absolute minimum work and there would be no better way to beat up the Brits
This thread deals with this more generally; it is clearly a real problem.
ch.ess – I can assure you they are not myths or fairytales. They do happen sometimes. You probably have a specific mission profile on which you don’t find them. I have posted videos with the sound track proving it… Also, being German, you will get treated differently around the Alps (another video I posted, with ATC having a discussion with another pilot in German so that I didn’t understand it).
dublinpilot – the stamp just shows you entered or exited the “fortress area” on that date. See the “counting stamps” thread.
@Peter no one, people or institutions gives a damn about Brexit any more.
The UK is a 3rd country and is therefore treated the dame as any other 3rd country. The problem is that people coming from 3rd countries other than the UK have been getting passports and/or visas plus stamps have always been doing it.So nothing has changed for them. For the UK things changed, what is it? a year ago now and UK citizens are just not used to it and many do not want to get used to it, so they get upset.
As for grumpy behaviour, well I’m sure there are a people in every country and every walk of life who are grumpy. To many the French might appear naturally grumpy. We debate (argue) ferociously. But in reality we are happy people, always willing to lend a hand to those with problems, especially in the GA world. But it is difficult to keep happy and helpful when faced with people who can not take the time to say hello/goodbye, who expect everyone to speak their language perfectly, tell us how to do our job when they have no idea what is involved and who just don’t have time or empathy for anyone other than themselves.
