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TRAVEL NEWS

‘Gendarmes turned up at my house even after France’s UK travel ban was lifted’

France's strict restrictions on travel to and from the UK have now been lifted, and vaccinated arrivals from the UK are no longer required to quarantine - but it seems that some Gendarmes in France didn't get the message.

Published: 18 January 2022 12:06 CET
'Gendarmes turned up at my house even after France's UK travel ban was lifted'
A French police officer checks the enforcement of Covid rules. Illustration photo: Thomas Coex/AFP

For just over a month, travel between France and the UK was strictly limited, with most types of travel banned altogether and those who could make the journey subject to strict rules including a quarantine on arrival in France.

However last week came the happy announcement that most restrictions have now been lifted for fully vaccinated travellers.

Those who are vaccinated can travel to France for any reason and no longer have to quarantine on arrival.

Unvaccinated travellers still have to prove that their trip is essential and on arrival in France face a 10 day quarantine. This can be done at home but is enforced by visits from local gendarmes.

The rule change was announced on Thursday, January 13th, and the Prime Minister’s statement said that the new rules “will apply from this Friday morning for travel between the UK and France”.

But one vaccinated traveller who arrived into France on Saturday, January 15th, has described still being subjected to police checks at his home in Normandy.

He told The Local: “Despite the change in regulations regarding isolation requirement being stopped, I had police turn up to my very rural home in Normandy on Saturday, Sunday and again on Monday.

“I offered to show them a print-out from the government website, but was told the change in regulations isn’t official until the gendarmerie is ‘formally’ told.”

In the end the man, a French national, went and got a Covid test and showed that to police in order to end his quarantine after 48 hours – the rule under the old system.

The rule change was published in the Journal Officiel – the official register of all new French laws and decrees – on Friday, January 14th and has been officially in force since then.

Unvaccinated travellers still face a 10-day quarantine on arrival, and police officers can turn up at their quarantine address at any time to ensure that they are isolating properly.

Find the full rules on France-UK travel HERE.

Member comments

  1. TRAVELLED BACK TO FRANCE ON THE 8TH JANUARY. 3 POLICE OFFICERS VISITED MY HOME ON THE 10TH JANUARY. NEVER ASKED ME WHO I WAS I NEVER TOLD THEM. TOLD ME I NEED TO ISOLATE FOR 10 DAYS BUT I COULD GO OUT DAILY BETWEEN 10AM AND 12 NOON FOR PROVISIONS. WASTE OF 3 POLICEMAN. JUST NONSENSE. I NOT PLAYING THE GAME ANYMORE

  2. We arrived back in France late on the 15th January. On the 17th we had two gendarmes arrive. They told us we had to isolate until the 25th unless we got an antigen test and took the proof to the local gendarmerie. Although we tried to explain (my husband speaks good French) that the rules had changed they were adamant. Obviously the new changes are not filtering down to those that need to know.

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TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

Published: 26 March 2024 09:55 CET
German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of €420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of €2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some €200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of €2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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