Norris
Guest
We recently suffered a catastrophic engine failure in France and had to be recovered home, along with our Talbot Express, but our experience may help other people travelling with dogs.
We broke down about 50 K South of Calais after my wife, I and our two dogs had spent the night at an Aries called Two Caps. After we left in the morning we began to smoke really badly on the motorway so pulled off at the next turning and as we drove up the off ramp I saw a large shop and a big car park so I headed there. The car park was in front of BRICO DEPOT the French equivalent to B&Q and when I examined the van engine it seemed like a blown head gasket.
A friendly shop assistant named Juilian kindly drove me into the town of Saint Martin Boulogne to try and get assistance but to no avail, seems like everyone was on vacation, so he returned me to the van and promised to call in and see us the following day. He called back in to see us about half an hour later to say he had alerted the manager to our plight and that we could remain there overnight. The store closed at 7.30pm and as it did a security guard came to tell us that the gates were going to be locked. I managed to explain “Engine Kaput” and he left us in peace.
In the afternoon I had got the laptop out and gone online and found a shop in Dover who could supply us with a head gasket the following day and to my amazement I found a ferry company called LD Lines, based in the town of Boulogne Sur Mare, just 4K down the road who would take me as a foot passenger with my bike to Dover, and return the same day for just £18, so the following day I went to the shop in Dover, and also visited Argos and bought a torque wrench. I returned early that afternoon and made a start stripping the engine. I got the head off the same night and found that there was a small split in the gasket, so 7 o’clock in the morning found me reassembling the motor with the new gasket.
By lunchtime I had finished and the engine started straight away, but it was no good, during the rebuild I had allowed a liner to lift and had inadvertently torn the bedding gasket beneath it and it was now allowing coolant to flood into the sump. I became resigned to the fact that we were not going to drive home and after exhausting everything else I could think of I contacted a breakdown recovery company in Llandovery who agreed to collect us and return us home for £1081. We had not been able to find a breakdown insurance company who were willing to take on our 26 year old camper so I had to pay the cost myself. We stayed in the car park for four days and nights and even got water from them and did some shopping in the local area.
All that I have written is just a lead up to what follows which is the important bit.
I found a DEFRA certified Veterinaire just a half kilometre from where we were parked who could treat the two dogs and do the paperwork to enable us to pass customs with the dogs and she was fully informed about the timing constraints, and very flexible with making appointments. I also found a lady working for LD lines called Michellé (my spelling!) who was an absolute STAR when it came to co-ordinating our being collected by our transport and getting to the ferry with our dogs at the right time. Due to an oversight we had not been booked as passengers with the breakdown truck so had to go as foot passengers, but dogs cannot go on foot. Because out camper had broken down it was being returned as freight, and dogs cannot be carried as freight. This lady spent all afternoon with her team leader, sorting out our problem. She phoned me back three times to reassure me that I had not been forgotten, and that there was no question of IF we travelled, but of HOW we travelled. She eventually phoned me to give me 1) the travel booking number of our truck; 2) the booking number of the travel warrant for me, my wife and our two dogs; 3) her telephone number, and firm instructions to me that she and her manager had sorted out every foreseeable problem in advance and at the hint of any obstruction I was to give the booking numbers and her telephone number to whoever was being awkward and tell them to phone her.
Twice on the way through check in I was told that the dogs should not be in the truck and both times I handed over her instructions and the people phoned her and then waved us through. On the second occasion the clerk said he was not prepared to climb up into our camper on the back of the lorry to scan the dogs so he gave me the reader and asked me to do it. No problem, he asked for Ceri the springer spaniel first and then Tsuki the poodle second. All the paper work from the vet was in order and we breezed onto the ferry. British customs were not too impressed and gave us a bit of a hard time but everything was in order and we were soon on our way home. As a bonus, if you are driving back to the uk, the port of Boulogne Sur Mare is reached long before Calais or Dunkirk!
Here are the addresses which work in Tom-tom.
Rue du Mont Joie, Saint Martin Boulogne. Is the car park of Brico Depot; if tom-tom asks for a street number just put anywhere.
Clinique Vétérinaire du Blanc-Pignon is the vet.
433, route de Saint-Omer – 62280 Saint Martin Les Boulogne is vet address, apparently the number (62280) is the post code, but from the car park walk up the road to the traffic roundabout and turn right and it is a ten minute walk; there is parking outside but the walk will give the dog time to pee.
03 21 31 05 92 is the vet phone number but I couldn’t get my mobile to ring it, the Brico Depot help desk rang it for me! The vet I saw is Docteur Laurence BRUNET and she was really good with the dogs and spot on with the paperwork.
Finally, the map co-ordinates for our position in the car park if you want to find it on Google earth N.50deg 43min43sec E.1deg38min35sec.
I have found another engine for our camper (less than 12 hours after returning!!) and with luck it will be in and running by Tuesday, a run down to Tenby for a couple of days to check it and then back to France, Piedrahita and Alicante!!
I found the French people courteous, helpful and sympathetic to our plight and Michellé of LD lines, well, I take my hat off to her, she was an absolute star, and I will be writing to LD to tell them so.
We broke down about 50 K South of Calais after my wife, I and our two dogs had spent the night at an Aries called Two Caps. After we left in the morning we began to smoke really badly on the motorway so pulled off at the next turning and as we drove up the off ramp I saw a large shop and a big car park so I headed there. The car park was in front of BRICO DEPOT the French equivalent to B&Q and when I examined the van engine it seemed like a blown head gasket.
A friendly shop assistant named Juilian kindly drove me into the town of Saint Martin Boulogne to try and get assistance but to no avail, seems like everyone was on vacation, so he returned me to the van and promised to call in and see us the following day. He called back in to see us about half an hour later to say he had alerted the manager to our plight and that we could remain there overnight. The store closed at 7.30pm and as it did a security guard came to tell us that the gates were going to be locked. I managed to explain “Engine Kaput” and he left us in peace.
In the afternoon I had got the laptop out and gone online and found a shop in Dover who could supply us with a head gasket the following day and to my amazement I found a ferry company called LD Lines, based in the town of Boulogne Sur Mare, just 4K down the road who would take me as a foot passenger with my bike to Dover, and return the same day for just £18, so the following day I went to the shop in Dover, and also visited Argos and bought a torque wrench. I returned early that afternoon and made a start stripping the engine. I got the head off the same night and found that there was a small split in the gasket, so 7 o’clock in the morning found me reassembling the motor with the new gasket.
By lunchtime I had finished and the engine started straight away, but it was no good, during the rebuild I had allowed a liner to lift and had inadvertently torn the bedding gasket beneath it and it was now allowing coolant to flood into the sump. I became resigned to the fact that we were not going to drive home and after exhausting everything else I could think of I contacted a breakdown recovery company in Llandovery who agreed to collect us and return us home for £1081. We had not been able to find a breakdown insurance company who were willing to take on our 26 year old camper so I had to pay the cost myself. We stayed in the car park for four days and nights and even got water from them and did some shopping in the local area.
All that I have written is just a lead up to what follows which is the important bit.
I found a DEFRA certified Veterinaire just a half kilometre from where we were parked who could treat the two dogs and do the paperwork to enable us to pass customs with the dogs and she was fully informed about the timing constraints, and very flexible with making appointments. I also found a lady working for LD lines called Michellé (my spelling!) who was an absolute STAR when it came to co-ordinating our being collected by our transport and getting to the ferry with our dogs at the right time. Due to an oversight we had not been booked as passengers with the breakdown truck so had to go as foot passengers, but dogs cannot go on foot. Because out camper had broken down it was being returned as freight, and dogs cannot be carried as freight. This lady spent all afternoon with her team leader, sorting out our problem. She phoned me back three times to reassure me that I had not been forgotten, and that there was no question of IF we travelled, but of HOW we travelled. She eventually phoned me to give me 1) the travel booking number of our truck; 2) the booking number of the travel warrant for me, my wife and our two dogs; 3) her telephone number, and firm instructions to me that she and her manager had sorted out every foreseeable problem in advance and at the hint of any obstruction I was to give the booking numbers and her telephone number to whoever was being awkward and tell them to phone her.
Twice on the way through check in I was told that the dogs should not be in the truck and both times I handed over her instructions and the people phoned her and then waved us through. On the second occasion the clerk said he was not prepared to climb up into our camper on the back of the lorry to scan the dogs so he gave me the reader and asked me to do it. No problem, he asked for Ceri the springer spaniel first and then Tsuki the poodle second. All the paper work from the vet was in order and we breezed onto the ferry. British customs were not too impressed and gave us a bit of a hard time but everything was in order and we were soon on our way home. As a bonus, if you are driving back to the uk, the port of Boulogne Sur Mare is reached long before Calais or Dunkirk!
Here are the addresses which work in Tom-tom.
Rue du Mont Joie, Saint Martin Boulogne. Is the car park of Brico Depot; if tom-tom asks for a street number just put anywhere.
Clinique Vétérinaire du Blanc-Pignon is the vet.
433, route de Saint-Omer – 62280 Saint Martin Les Boulogne is vet address, apparently the number (62280) is the post code, but from the car park walk up the road to the traffic roundabout and turn right and it is a ten minute walk; there is parking outside but the walk will give the dog time to pee.
03 21 31 05 92 is the vet phone number but I couldn’t get my mobile to ring it, the Brico Depot help desk rang it for me! The vet I saw is Docteur Laurence BRUNET and she was really good with the dogs and spot on with the paperwork.
Finally, the map co-ordinates for our position in the car park if you want to find it on Google earth N.50deg 43min43sec E.1deg38min35sec.
I have found another engine for our camper (less than 12 hours after returning!!) and with luck it will be in and running by Tuesday, a run down to Tenby for a couple of days to check it and then back to France, Piedrahita and Alicante!!
I found the French people courteous, helpful and sympathetic to our plight and Michellé of LD lines, well, I take my hat off to her, she was an absolute star, and I will be writing to LD to tell them so.
