Brittany Ferries - check your vehicle height matches your booking

sololite

Guest
Just made a booking with Brittany Ferries to take us to Spain later this year and noticed that unlike previous years, even though I had selected 'Motorhome' on the booking, when the PDF with the booking arrived in my email, it had specified the height of our vehicle as being the one that the DVLA knows about for our 'base' vehicle rather than Brittany Ferries definition of what a motorhome can be.

Our campervan is 2.1m (it has a roof) where as the VW transporter it is based upon is 1.99m. The motorhome category I picked during the booking process was 2.6m.

A quick call to their customer service team got the the height altered on the booking but thought I would share this detail in case anyone scrapes their roof or incurs extra charges at the ferry terminal because Brittany Ferries were expecting something shorter.

Bon Voyage!
 
sololite said:
Just made a booking with Brittany Ferries to take us to Spain later this year and noticed that unlike previous years, even though I had selected 'Motorhome' on the booking, when the PDF with the booking arrived in my email, it had specified the height of our vehicle as being the one that the DVLA knows about for our 'base' vehicle rather than Brittany Ferries definition of what a motorhome can be.

Our campervan is 2.1m (it has a roof) where as the VW transporter it is based upon is 1.99m. The motorhome category I picked during the booking process was 2.6m.

A quick call to their customer service team got the the height altered on the booking but thought I would share this detail in case anyone scrapes their roof or incurs extra charges at the ferry terminal because Brittany Ferries were expecting something shorter.

Bon Voyage!
Click to expand...

Well Brittany Ferries are stupid to rely on any DVLA information, and especially on height as it is not recorded on a V5.

On my V5 the following are totally blank.

D.2 Type
D.3 Model
V7 CO2 (gm/km
S.1 Number of seate including driver
J. Vehicle category
K Type approval number
P.2 Max reference power
F.1 Max permissible mass
G. Mass in service

[ ignore trailer info]

[V1-V5 All emissions info are blank]

Even Transport for London's LEZ contractors no longer rely on DVLA information, as did the previous contractor and will accept any evidence submitted to them directly.

DVLA will put on the form whatever the Dealer or Owner tells them, as long as they get the right tax. They do not know one end of a vehicle from another.

For technical details it would be better if DVSA(ex VOSA) handled the system as they know vehicles.

Geoff
 
When you choose Motorhome on B Ferries you get the screen below which clearly asks you the height of your vehicle - nothing to do with DVLA,

bferries.png
 
Not only height, watch the length!

Since last year Brittany Ferries have been using Manufacturers Specifications to ascertain vehicle dimensions as many have been telling porkies on the length of their vans.

I have always put the length of my Auto Sleepers Symbol at 5 metres but last year BF queried this, said the length was 5.09mtrs from the 2004 maker's spec.

I realised that this included the rear step. So simple solution...Remove rear step!...2 bolts, 10 minutes work. They measured the van at Portsmouth, 5mtrs, OK.

On arrival at Santander, pull over at port, reattach step, another 10mins work. 35 quid saved!
 
spigot said:
Since last year Brittany Ferries have been using Manufacturers Specifications to ascertain vehicle dimensions as many have been telling porkies on the length of their vans.

I have always put the length of my Auto Sleepers Symbol at 5 metres but last year BF queried this, said the length was 5.09mtrs from the 2004 maker's spec.

I realised that this included the rear step. So simple solution...Remove rear step!...2 bolts, 10 minutes work. They measured the van at Portsmouth, 5mtrs, OK.

On arrival at Santander, pull over at port, reattach step, another 10mins work. 35 quid saved!
Click to expand...




Whose specifications? Base vehicles? Converters? Modifiers? When somebody puts a sat dish on the roof is it recorded on any government database - of course not.
 
nicholsong said:
Whose specifications? Base vehicles? Converters? Modifiers? When somebody puts a sat dish on the roof is it recorded on any government database - of course not.
Click to expand...


The specifications are from the motorhome manufacturer, or if you’re going to be pedantic, the converter.

The dimensions are as it left the factory, not including anything bolted on afterwards like bike rack etc.
 
Edina said:
When you choose Motorhome on B Ferries you get the screen below which clearly asks you the height of your vehicle - nothing to do with DVLA,

bferries.png
Click to expand...

Thanks. Thats the issue. I selected this option but when the pdf for the booking arrived it had our campervan listed as a VW TRANSPORTER with a height of 1.99m. The lady at Britannia customer services told me that the number had come from the DVLA. In previous years the height on the pdf was 2.6m so something has changed.
 
Thanks, always check the booking confirmation matches what you purchased.
When I booked DFDS Newhaven on the (phone to get old man discount) and declared 8.6m long, she told me," we put that in the up to 8m charge length! That's okay. The next category is 10m and you're no where near to that."
So I did.

Sent from my mobile using Tapatalk
 
Brittany had me for 0.1m on a commercial Mercedes Sprinter flat bed because I had a towbar. They then tucked me under the front of an unaccompanied trailer saving them half a metre. Anything to make a Euro or two.
 
Out of interest I physically measured my van height as 2.53m, so booked a crossing with BF as being under 2.6m. The next morning a BF employee phoned me and triumphantly declared that the published height was 2.65m, and I owed them an extra £15. I measured it again at the same height. He did say that they could measure it at Portsmouth before the trip, but I agreed to pay the difference, couldn't be @rsed. But I did say to him that I was sure that I would be in the same queue as all the other vans. And so I was. Jobsworth, uh?
 
Its good to check the proper spec, as we have a Swift 590, which we were told was for 5.9m long, but double checked before booking ferry as we would have put under 6m when it is actually 6.1m plus the bike rack on the back.
 
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