Cite Europe

mikejay

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Have been seeing posts the last few days on social media that the Cite Europe aire has been shut down. Also posts on camper contact https://www.WEBSITE BLOCKED BY ADMI...coquelles/18504/parking-supermarche-carrefour.

Mike
 
Blast! We usually stop the last night before UK return, get shopping and easy to leave next morning for tunnel. We did pay for a site at Calais once, just a compound but it was secure.
 
It was still open in October. We went in June a few years ago & they had an open air concert on that spot, so all the vans simply parked down the road a bit where there were no height barriers. We sat there all evening watching the police go in & out of their big electric gates, so I'm thinking it was somewhere the other side of the coach parking area.
Having looked on Google maps we parked here. 50.931677, 1.809804
 
You can now stop there during the the day, but security guards come around to close it down at 10pm. We were moved on on Friday night at 10:15. Was in there yesterday and around 5:00 a security guard came around to make sure everyone would be away by 10pm. When asked why he said it was because of trouble by the migrants, he also said that the closure would be permanent. Just need to find another Carrefour away from Calais.
 
Drat. It was really handy when arriving in France as so close to tunnel and ferry, arrive late, park up, get supplies in morning and head off. Guess I'll have to find somewhere else next time.
 
never had or saw any problems there in the past 10 years........
was real handy for coming or going to the tunnel.
alternative suggestions would be nice.
thanks.
 
First post link mentioned that migrants now being "processed " nearby which is why problems in last month. Not a great place to stay but very convenient for early train/ ferry. Will stay further out and leave earlier.
 
***** said:
Seriously, I can't understand why anybody would want to stop at a place that is well known to have some iffy night life. when there are much nicer places not to far away
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Same here, only been there once during the day and that was bad enough, scared the hell out of the wife so we`ll never return.
 
Shame that one review mentions gypsies at Sangatte. Stayed there in the summer and would use again.
 
There are a lot of other Aires within an hours drive of the port. Cannot understand why anyone is happy to stay in a place where there are people roaming around during the night unless of course it is to report back that they are friendly and they didn't have any trouble. Looks like the French have decided that it's to much trouble and it attracts people to the area. By closing it it dissuades groups from gathering in the area and also saves on manpower having to police the area to make sure everyone is safe. Without the security guards what would happen overnight.
 
It appears that things may have changed. I have stayed there many a time, why? very convenient for tunnel or ferry and easy shopping to stock up. Like all places I stop, its your gut feeling, and having experienced minimal migrants have found Cite no problems. Things change but I would not stay at an aires over an hour away, if I was crossing channel next day. Everybody to their own, but it appears that option may have been removed from Cite, for the time being.
 
I think what comes out of this thread are varying opinions based on different experiences. We once spent two nights at the Halydon carpark in Berwick and had a great time there with no problems, or not even anyone else using the carpark both nights. We then went back last year and had a hell of a time with boy racers playing loud music till the early hours. My wife was not comfortable. Woke up next morning to rubbish everywhere. My advice for that carpark would be avoid Friday Saturday and Sunday nights. But that’s only based on our experience. Others may have went there at the weekend and had no problems.
 
Bigshug said:
You can now stop there during the the day, but security guards come around to close it down at 10pm. he also said that the closure would be permanent. Just need to find another Carrefour away from Calais.
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Lets just hope that by not stopping or shopping there at all day or night they see a drop in takings and consider reopening it
 
witzend said:
Lets just hope that by not stopping or shopping there at all day or night they see a drop in takings and consider reopening it
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So how much does it cost to police it from 10pm till 8am. One person is not going to be very effective so at least you would need two + dogs. Minimum wage but it's nights so say £10 an hour. £100 per person per night so £1400 a week to patrol it. Even if you say one person you are still looking at £700 a week + contributions. Now what you have to ask is how much is being spent in the shops by the number who will not go. There will be people who go who do not stop overnight. So how much profit does a supermarket make. The average supermarket makes ( lets be generous ) 3% HERE. So £1400 represents 3% of takings so the supermarket will have to take £46,000 a week from motorhomes to break even. So if the average motorhome spends £100 then that is 4600 visits a week or 657 visits per day.

So in answer to your question they will have to see a drop in takings of £2.3 million pounds a year before they see any benefit to opening it again.
 
Judging by the trolleys full of drink coming out of Cite Europe they would quite easily make more than €46000 per week. I will not be shopping in Calais now, there is a better Auchan in Boulogne. We spent the last three nights there peacefully.
 
We called in to cite Europe 3 weeks ago .on the way home .
There was 6/7 gypsy vans parked in corner .
And about 20/30 .young lads from all over (migrants).
Just watching motorhomes and any large vans that pulled in .
It felt very unsafe ,so moved on .as we left and headed up to gravelines there was many on roadside.
No police .
 
It astounds me why anyone would want to stay in that place anyway, I suppose it’s their fascination with 🛣 motorways.
The D940 coast road from Boulogne is a pleasant scenic drive, hardly any traffic, a good aire at Wissant or plenty of places among the dunes.
There is also an enormous Auchan on this road just before Calais with a fuel station.
We have used this route for many years & have never seen a migrant.
 
QFour said:
There will be people who go who do not stop overnight
So in answer to your question they will
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Didn,t ask a question just thought that motorhomes not stoping there to shop day or night might have affected their takings. Obviously they created the aire to encourage motorhomes to stop an shop to help there income not for our benifit
 
shortcircuit said:
A bit bemused by previous post as Aires is no where near motorway?
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I said this because if Eurotunnel is not being used the main route to Cite is the A16 motorway.
It can be reached on side roads but a bit of a performance.
 
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