LeShuttle has introduced what it says is a new and more straightforward border processing model for eligible UK school groups that travel by coach from its terminal at Folkestone to Calais.
The approach has been agreed with French authorities and will be available from 16 July. It is intended to reduce border processing times for those groups “while maintaining the quick, high-frequency service that makes LeShuttle a popular choice for coach operators.”
Inspiration is from the advance processing approach already in use at other UK ports, known as the MOANA scheme. For LeShuttle customers, it will remove the need for schools and coach operators to collect and submit passenger information in a prescribed format before travel.
Instead, those eligible groups will notify LeShuttle in advance and make a declaration at the terminal on the day of departure.
To use the new process, the school or coach operator concerned must notify LeShuttle at least three days before travel that the booking is for a school trip, and provide proof that the school is a registered UK educational establishment.
LeShuttle will then issue a school group coach sign as a PDF. It should be printed and displayed in the windscreen on arrival. At the French border, the lead teacher will then confirm the number of pupils travelling, and declare the minimum and maximum age range of the group. Guidance for travel day procedures will be issued at the same time as the coach sign.
Speaking about the development, LeShuttle Head of Coach and Trade Sales Tracy Bayliss says: “School travel should be about the experience, not the paperwork.
“By building on the proven approach used at ports and tailoring it to LeShuttle’s unique operating model, we are making it easier for schools and coach operators to benefit from a faster process while keeping the crossing itself as quick and frequent as ever.”
LeShuttle advises that bookings for school groups travelling by coach should otherwise continue to be made as normal.
