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We are going to France via Spain on the Brittany ferry Pont Aven in July. We have a 2006 Ford Mondeo Estate and are carry a bog standard roofbox which, when all is empty, takes us 1.5 inches above the 6 foot (1.83m) limit. To move up to the next category will cost us another £100 and the ferry fare is expensive enough as it is! (£900)

Does anyone have experience of this sort of problem whilst travelling aboard by ferry? I'm assuming that once the box and car is fully laden that the car will drop by at least an inch. Are the ferry companies that fussy over the extra inch or so anyway? I realise that they have to have a cut off point, but does anyone have experience of being given a bit of leeway?

This has already been asked before, way back in 2005, but the answers didn't answer my question.

we did take a roof box years ago and they didnt say a word-we never paid any extra,but methinks they are more strict now.you could always try it as long as you are prepared to pay on the day.

if you ask they will charge you!!!

cheb

Thanks cheb.
I did ring the ferry company up and the guy I spoke to said "they'd have to be real jobsworths to charge you for being 1.5 inches over". If I get charged then I'd pay, grudgingly. What I don't want to happen, is to be refused entry to the ferry.

I'll get in so much trouble for this, but when my OH got out of the passenger seat yesterday, I'm sure the car rose an inch!. I'm trying to persudae OH to go camping again in a few weeks. Then we could check the car fully laden but with no passengers, which I'm sure will bring us under the limit and I can also check it with OH and sprog in situ.

How do they check the height before you get on the ferry? Do you have to drive under a dangly thingy that is set to the height or is a case of some official eyeballing each vehicle?

The box sits on two crossbars, which sit on clamps which then clamp to the roofbars on the car. I'd even thought of removing the rear clamps and letting the rear crossbar rest on the roofbars, for the duration of the journey. It's at the back of the box where it's over the limt.

When you drive through the ticket/passport control at Plymouth,there are height marks on the side of the kiosk!

Wish I had a measuring stick. Me and the Other Half were faffing about with a tape measure and a piece of wood at the weekend!

We have a Ford Focus estate and roof box. Last year we went from Portsmouth to Caen with Britanny on the Fast cat. I was worried we would have to pay extra for being too high, but when we got to the entry booth, the woman leaned out and checked us against the marker stick and allowed us through, no problem. I think they make an allowance for the odd inch or so!

This year we're going by Eurotunnel (thanks tesco!) and they automatically put cars with roofboxes in the high part, with no extra charge

We sailed from Plymouth to Roscoff last August - I think that was on the Pont Aven.

To be honest, it is such a military exercise to load the ferry, with very tight turnaround times.  I don't think they check who has paid what.  They just send you into a queuing line along with other vehicles of the same category.

If it were me, I would keep quiet about being a tad higher than the limit you have paid for - it can't possibly be cost-effective for them to waste time splitting hairs with people over an inch here or there.

They do pack you in incredibly tightly.  We had our caravan and they lowered the deck above until the fluorescent strips lights were just touching the roofs of the caravans - eeek!

Oh - and our cabin flooded impressively at midnight and we had to be moved to another one, but that's another story that we've already told on here.

"Oh - and our cabin flooded impressively at midnight and we had to be moved to another one, but that's another story that we've already told on here."

Oh no! I thought the Pont Avon was a smart, modern ship!