Nightmare in Dieppe. SS case

[robertcy]

Hi all. Our story is not a Christmas one but here we go. Our situation:

I'm Russian and my husband is British. We have been living in France for over 2 years and he has been self-employed for over a year and I have French Residence Card of EU/EEA family member.

We were hoping to visit family in the UK but failed as I was denied boarding access to the ferry in Dieppe with DFDS seaways. The boarding staff asked me about visa and we had to explain about our EU rights and SS case. She said she'd never heard of it and contacted UKBA in Newhaven. They asked her to e-mail them our passports, my residence card and other relevant documents.

An hour later there was a call from UKBA in Newhaven, DFDS staff passed the phone over to me and the officer told me that as I'm Russian I need a visa to come to the UK. I argued with him pointing out that in my case I only need a FP or otherwise seek an admission in port. He said that I'm not in port and I can only seek an admission if I get there!

I said that in this case we want to have a written refusal from him, signed and dated with our surnames on but he said that he is not refusing me at all and if we manage to get to the port they will check our documents again and let us go if they are satisfied. I argued again saying that if he can't refuse us he has only one option-to let us go! I also told him that the complaint to the EU commission would be submitted straightaway. He said: Good luck and I answered : Merry X-Mas Sir.

DFDS also didn't write a refusal due to the fact of the "supervisor" being absent . . .
It's not 1st January 2014 yet but looks like effect is already in place.

It took us to get to Dieppe 12 hrs as we live in Nice, we had to stay a night at the hotel in Dieppe because of the timetable.The return trip cost us a fortune, another night at the hotel, the train to Paris and then the flight back to Nice.We'd already paid ahead for our journey in the UK and a night at the hotel there.
We had no option to go via Calais as they don't accept foot passengers with pets and we have a little dog.
X-Mas has been ruined.The person who suffered most of all is my mother in law. She is 89, it might be her last X-Mas and she was dreaming of spending it together with us.

We had numerous confrontations with French Authorities regarding my RC and hoped that after eventually obtaining it we would have no problems visiting the family in the UK.We have no intention to move back after living in this beautiful and sunny part of France especially as we can forget about any contact with French Authorities for a long time now (my RC was issued in March 2013). We were even thinking of entering the UK via Ireland but after our nightmare journey to Dieppe,had second thoughts as it's so physically demanding,especially with the dog in tow.We are still in doubt whether to give it a go.

Anyway we want to complain.Your help will be very much appreciated. Thank you.

[Jellybean105]

Hi there

I'm sorry I have not read it, but just thought it would be much easier for people to read your post if you put the story into smaller paragraphs. Edit it and just put a few spaces in between

[Hubba]

Hi all. Our story is not a Christmas one but here we go. Our situation:

I'm Russian and my husband is British. We have been living in France for over 2 years and he has been self-employed for over a year and I have French Residence Card of EU/EEA family member.

We were hoping to visit family in the UK but failed as I was denied boarding access to the ferry in Dieppe with DFDS seaways. The boarding staff asked me about visa and we had to explain about our EU rights and SS case. She said she'd never heard of it and contacted UKBA in Newhaven. They asked her to e-mail them our passports, my residence card and other relevant documents.

An hour later there was a call from UKBA in Newhaven, DFDS staff passed the phone over to me and the officer told me that as I'm Russian I need a visa to come to the UK. I argued with him pointing out that in my case I only need a FP or otherwise seek an admission in port. He said that I'm not in port and I can only seek an admission if I get there!

I said that in this case we want to have a written refusal from him, signed and dated with our surnames on but he said that he is not refusing me at all and if we manage to get to the port they will check our documents again and let us go if they are satisfied. I argued again saying that if he can't refuse us he has only one option-to let us go! I also told him that the complaint to the EU commission would be submitted straightaway. He said: Good luck and I answered : Merry X-Mas Sir.

DFDS also didn't write a refusal due to the fact of the "supervisor" being absent . . .
It's not 1st January 2014 yet but looks like effect is already in place.

It took us to get to Dieppe 12 hrs as we live in Nice, we had to stay a night at the hotel in Dieppe because of the timetable.The return trip cost us a fortune, another night at the hotel, the train to Paris and then the flight back to Nice.We'd already paid ahead for our journey in the UK and a night at the hotel there.
We had no option to go via Calais as they don't accept foot passengers with pets and we have a little dog.
X-Mas has been ruined.The person who suffered most of all is my mother in law. She is 89, it might be her last X-Mas and she was dreaming of spending it together with us.

We had numerous confrontations with French Authorities regarding my RC and hoped that after eventually obtaining it we would have no problems visiting the family in the UK.We have no intention to move back after living in this beautiful and sunny part of France especially as we can forget about any contact with French Authorities for a long time now (my RC was issued in March 2013). We were even thinking of entering the UK via Ireland but after our nightmare journey to Dieppe,had second thoughts as it's so physically demanding,especially with the dog in tow.We are still in doubt whether to give it a go.

Anyway we want to complain.Your help will be very much appreciated. Thank you.

Maybe you can go via Eurostar? UK's border control is on Gare du Nord, so you can safely present yourself to port without having the carrier denying your the trip. Unfortunately, they don't seem to accept pets either. What about renting a car?

[dalebutt]

Complaints does almost nothing these days with this inept commission, who are suppose to be safeguarding the rules, apply for FP to avoid being in this sort of situation, if you do not have the time, why not board a lovely flight to Dublin, and on arrival the Border guard would greet you welcome with a big smile on his face, with no entry stamp on your passport, and hop on a ferry or bus over to the UK.

[euroguys]

recently did dfds dunkirk by car showed the family residence no probs with the ticket guy then french police no probs finally the uk BF an hour before the stamp It may be the dog is adding to the complexity level but record the phone calls and interviews and be prepared with a print out of your rights

[robertcy]

Thanks for your replies. Where to complaint?