Has anybody travelled by Eurostar and taken gas cannisters with them? When I did they were confiscated by security at Waterloo who said they were prohibited goods. On return to the UK I looked up the regulations which stated that minimal quantities could carried. I emailed the Eurostar helpline and asked for clarification on what was minimal ( and did it depend upon the number of people travelling?). They replied that 'as long as the cylinders were sealed and packed properly there should be no problem, the final decision resting with the train manager'. So NO (according to security) , YES ( According to Eurostar), MINIMAL(according to Regulations).
|
 |
 Peter - I think you'll find that sort of confusion is common right across the board. The regulations have been changed so often that it's no surprise that you find people responding in different ways. One thing is for certain, you can't argue with the person who checks your kit, or you risk being barred from travel!
|
|
 National Rail Conditions of Carraige ban "Dangerous goods – inflammable liquids, explosives". Presumably gas canisters would be inluded in this list. But then if you want to take 4 carrier bags on a train they can charge you 50% extra.
|
|
but you don't have to go through security to travel on National Rail (yet).
|
|
 To further confuse the situation, a few years ago I carried a couple of canisters on Eurostar with no problem. James
|
|
In August I took my trangia. I had to unpack and show them there was no gas involved. I came away with the impression that I could have taken meths without any problems. Something which would have saved lots of faffing around trying to get meths in Paris (I was about to jump on a night train direct to the mountains). The guards told me to save faff I should put the cooker in a separate bag or in my hand to save having to get everything out and show them you haven't got canisters. Meths is probably no more explosive than brandy and nobody bats an eyelid at duty free do they?
|
|
 They all got jumpy too on the Eurostar as well, when the newer rules came in for the passenger transporting only of small bottles of fluids etc on board aircraft recently; as too the same at all major sea ports for a little while back then, where my poor friend Peter had his brand new gas canisters both confiscated-even though they were safely well packed-and that was with him travelling only by sea over to France! So beat that one for the stupidity of customs officialdom! I did not even realise that the UK customs even still bothered picking out people at random for stop and searches, other than for air travel, to Europe these days! I guess that all of the last few big terrorist outrages have changed all that usual sensible way of thinking. Makes me wonder if maybe he was wearing his arab shemagh scarf round his neck that day! Although he does't look in the slightest bit either Arabic or otherwise remotely Islamic looking in appearance. He is in fact an olive skinned British descent London Jew! I do not believe you can actually get more non-arabic than that in any way at all!
|
| Edited: 24/01/08 00:29 |
The next logical step is to ban vehicles (mobile petrol bombs) from ferries !
|
|
 What the hell does being non Arabic have to do with not being a terrorist?? You think that only Islamic Arabs are terrorists? Sounds a bit racist to me.
|
|
The ban on gas, as opposed to other fuels, is because gas is heavier than air. Given carte blanche to allow LPG fuelled cars, etc. to use the tunnel, there would be an eventual build up of gas and then - BOOM. You'll see the same restrictions on tunnel approaches all over Europe
|
|
No Hedgehope mate, that is not anything at all the sort of thing I was in fact saying in my post! They cannot hope to stop and search everyone, so they instead have to confine and narrow their interests of search to certain more likely "types" of possible potential individuals. It is called "profiling" and some claim it to be a science. I merely suggested the very likely chance possibility-knowing my friend's habits quite well, over the years-that he likely attracted the attention of the security himself by wearing his much loved green arabic headscarf, or "shemagh", around his neck in his travels that day! It is a very popular travel garb for a lot of people nowadays, especially so for ex-soldiers and adventure travellers like my friend-and that is quite simply definitely all that I said! So no need to read me out the race riots act here, thank you very much! OK!! Some critics definitely do tend to claim though, where such things as stop and search routine activities are carried out, that indeed such profiling is racist in the extreme! But I am not responsible at all in any ways for this current government policing and security policy myself! I am flattered that you feel that I somehow or other might have so been though; but simply just not very much!
|
| Edited: 24/01/08 13:47 |
Sorry you just seem to be making a thing of the fact that your friend isn't Arabic or Islamic (though how you tell an Islamic by the colour of their skin is beyond me) and therefore shouldn't be stopped.
|
|
