Hi All, Thanks very much for all of your replies, they've made the Dover issue clearer and I now also know about the breathalyser as well!
Anyhoo... at the risk of derision and lots of pointing at me and laughing etc how easy is it to get my car and caravan on the train thingy at the Eurotunnel? Do they have special carriages with bigger doors for vans etc?
Cheers again!
dead easy friend of mine used the service only bought the van 6 months before crossing and never towed before the personnel guided him on and off he was as pleased as punch (don't know about judy)
The carriages that take larger vehicles are quite specious, even with a caravan inside, IMHO. I could be wrong, but I think the 'car only' carriages may be two-story. We only used the tunnel one year. Outgoing journey was very good. Incoming was aweful - there was a points failure and we were stationary under the middle of the channel for about an hour.
You go on the single deck train with the coaches. Hoards of kids pile off the coaches heading for the inadequate & unclean toilets putting dirty finger marks on your caravan as they pass.
To get onto train aim across the flatbed carriage at about 45deg, onto opposite platform then swing hard back again to straighten outfit so you enter without hitting kerb with caravan wheel.
On the Tunnel, don't assume the official person waving you forward knows what they are doing - when we used it for the first time with a van 2 years ago, there was not enough room for our car/caravan and the motorhome in front of us to fit into the compartment (they close doors across during travelling) despite being instructed to move forward. We ended up having to reverse - OH was not a happy bunny! Needless to say, on our return we were much more cautious.