I am informed that the Home Office has activated a plan to implement exit checks for people leaving the UK. One way to leave the UK is to drive via the Eurotunnel to France. Another way is to take a ferry from one of the ports such as Dover.
Are people in cars affected? If so, are cars with UK license plates exempted? Also if so, is it advisable to add an extra 60 - 90 minutes to one's journey time to account for an exit check?
The exit checks apply to all passengers on all commercial travel out of the UK, by air, sea or land.
The vast majority of passengers leaving the country on scheduled commercial international air, sea and rail routes will go through exit checks. School coach parties of EEA children under 16 years old will be exempt from checks.
The advice so far seems to be that it's not having much effect on journey times. Eurotunnel for example are currently advising that passengers turn up no later than 30 minutes before scheduled departure, which is unchanged from their previous advice.
In many cases you can (or are required to) give Advanced Passenger Information which will speed the exit check.
