Hello everyone -
Can someone please refresh my memory on the Weekend Curfew times in France and Belgium. I need to be in Kuurne (North East of Lille) on Monday morning around 08.00 - also any thoughts on a good overnight stopping place near Calais (with truck) if I went over on the Ferry on Sunday afternoon?
Thanks for your help - Andrew
no curfew if you are heading up the corridor into belgium
No restrictions in Belgium and the restrictions in France are lifted at 22:00 (French time) on a Sunday evening.
You can drive from Calais to Belgium, sticking to the A16 even with the restriction in place. You cannot head toward Lille until it has lifted however.
What you could do, if you want to drive to Kuurne on Sunday afternoon is head for Belgium on the A16 and take the second exit after the border and take the N8 to Ypres, then follow the signs for Kortrijk which will take you toward Kuune.
Good stopping places near Calais are few and far between but you can park on what is known as the beach. Exit the port and instead of taking the slip up onto the motorway from the roundabout continue round and take the next exit, this leads toward the parking. There are limited facilities there and it is patrolled by security. Personally I would head up into Belgium rather than park at Calais.
Just as an after thought, if you are carrying hazardous you will have to wait until midnight Sunday before you can drive and this applies to the A16 to Belgium as well.
Thank you for your replies - I will do as you suggest - A16 turn down the N8 towards Ypres and then on to Kuune - no doubt I will find somewhere to stop - eat and sleep on the way!
Great site by the way…
And while I’m here - trailer heights! - on this journey I will be less than 4Mts but we have just bought a big screen trailer which tops out at 4.275 - (just over 14ft).
While we should not have a problem on Motorways how much of a problem would this height be off the motorways in Europe - I appreciate that in countries like Poland 4Mts is it - but any thoughts on France, Germany, Spain, Italy which are the most likely venues for this trailer.
Best wishes - Andrew
i wouldn’t be quite so blase about being OK on european motorways, except for france you’ll be illegal and there are PLENTY of bridges lower than 4.28m!
in germany, even though he has permanent permits for 3m wide and 20m long etc, one of our subbies got nicked at 4.10m high near nurnburg last year…
Thanks for the reply on height - my only thought is that there are I beleive special regs for Exhibition - TV - Screen and other specialist vehicles. I have driven exhibition and broadcast vehicles all over Eastern and Western Europe in the past but this trailer is I have to say at the top end of the trailer heights.
Thanks again - I will investigate further! cheers - Andrew
In Germany in particular they seem to be clamping down on over height trailers, in several of the controls I was stopped in last year they got the big measuring stick out and checked the height. Cool bit of kit they use, big extendable pole (not someone from Warsaw before anyone says anything) with an arm on it that they hook on the roof of the trailer and it has a digital readout of the height on a display attached to the pole.
There are several bridges over the autobahns, that I can think of, that are only 4 metres.
For safetys sake get your company to gertincontact with the relavant traffic–
offices in those countries you wish to either drive or transit,WHY because ALL vehicles that do not conferm to the EUROPEAN -NORM;ARE REQUIRED TO HAVE A PERMIT also they will incertain cases give you a set route to use. AS Niel has all ready posted the are very ““HOT”” in Germany and dislike haveing their bridges damaged by vehicles,
FOR GERMANY
For Information only but also no claim that evey 4.00m bridge is so built!!!
Normaly there is a 0.20cmspace when the keight is posted 4.00m so you have a 4.20m space,BUT AS POSTED I AM NOT GIVEING GUARANTEE
that this iscorrect for every 4.00m bridge
when I was on Westermann most of the GB vehicles were 4.15 m high, I never managed to hit any bridges, but a few other drivers had problems on French national roads,and Dutch, German and Belgian motorways. Holland has many bridges over the motorway system that you would never get through, even a light dusting of snow can cause problems to standard hight trailers there…
just as an after thought, you will not be able to use the channel tunnel and I believe you will have problems with your height on Dover Calais ferry’s 4.2 max (I think)
I’ve touched a bridge on the AutoStrada Turin-Milan (ASTM) with a 4.0m high wagon. The road was originally a two lane motorway with hard shoulder. It was expanded to a three lane with emergency lay-bys. The lanes are all rather narrow and a lot of the bridges have a diagonal support which is less than 4.0m at the edges of the road. You will see the damage done to these supports when you drive along it. Experienced drivers all weave out and back when going under these bridges. I was boxed in by a coach when I touched the bridge, so couldn’t move out enough.
There was a lot of construction going on alongside that road, the last time I was down there, which was a couple of years ago. Things might have changed.