1980s Travel | Travelling by Ferry | Cross Channel Ferry | Wheels | 1980 

Travelled on one of these as a child. Never been so seasick in my life. Everybody puked. There was a very correct stiff-upper lip British man, near me who gave me some water, and said: "chin up girl. This too will pass". Whenever I have a low moment, I still say to myself: chin up, this too will pass. 😀😀

This brings back so many memories and a heavy dose of nostalgia, my late parents and I travelled many times to France during the 1980s as we owned a property near Bordeaux. At least 6-8 car ferry return journeys during the year, principally during school holidays. Until 1989, there was no A26 motorway linking the ferry port and you had to travel through Calais town centre, 30 miles to the nearest motorway junction. We mostly used Sealink as a ferry company as it was cheaper than TT and the Hovercraft. I must have travelled on every ferry. St Anselms, St Christopher, Champs Elysees, Cote d'Azur, the Herald of Free Enterprise. I remember the Calais Car Ferry terminal very well. We used the cafeteria frequently and one of the french ladies at the till even got to recognize us. The bar was just outside, filled with truckers, near the elevator. On the ground floor, the interior was typically 80s in style. I recently checked the place and the press outlet has gone, the interior refurbished. The exterior now with modern cladding. I am surprised P&O and DFDS still have ticketing offices there when you can book online. But probably still used for customs as there was an administrative centre on the first floor. Its counterpart, the eastern docks travel centre in Dover, built in the mid-70s, was demolished in 2014....

I am a 77 year Old School lorry driver.. Used all ferries for years. Still love them. No Tunnel for me Thanks.... Douglas Vick.

Went on a boys night out to Zeebrugge back in 82. Not only missed the ferry back but lost my passport too. Managed to bribe a crew member to smuggle me aboard the next ferry out. When we got to Dover the immigration got hold of me and called my mum to confirm I was who I said I was. They then sent me on my way with a warning to be a good lad in the future. Probably be in jail if it happened today!

I'm sure that I travelled on Townsend Thoresen in November 1987, left from Zeebrugge, all I could think about was the Herald of Free Enterprise. When I was in the Netherlands, I bought a copy of "Spycatcher", which was banned in the UK at the time. At customs they asked me whether I had anything to declare, and the customs officer eyeballed me, when he asked this. I shrugged my shoulders and mumbled, and he let me go. It wouldn't happen today.

The TT trio of new ferries were very fine ships..... don't get me wrong, I loved Sealink's Belfast-built St Anselm & St Christopher to bits.... I believe as of June 2020 they are both still in existence, but I don't know of their operations or indeed their condition!!! The ship featured in this video.... Spirit of Free Enterprise, or "SOFE"... was stretched by 33m in 1992 to bring her capacity up nearer to the level of the later generation ferries. I travelled on her a few times as Pride of Kent, and later as P&OSL Kent... she was still a great old ship and I preferred her to the newer ferries 👍👍👍👍

I remember the ferry The Herald of Free Enterprise disaster on 6March 1987 in Zeebrugge when nearly 200 passengers and crew died when the ship capsized after leaving the port. A terrible tragedy that should never have happened

Wow Tony Bastaple is rocking that blazer

That's a cracking jumper. My mum used to knit me jumpers not entirely unlike that in those days. I was 5 then.

Love Brittany Ferries! A much nicer start to a vacation than the airport experience!

I used to make very regular crossings on Herald of free Enterprise to Zeebrugge and back during the 80s crossing 4-6 times a month on the overnighter with my truck. I shudder when i think about it now. I was aware that roro (roll on, roll off) ferry's like the Herald were flat bottomed rather than having a V shaped hull like a ship has but didn't ever give it a thought that because of the flat bottomed design they were/still are inherently dangerous. The Herald sank because she left port with her bow doors open. The kid left in charge of doing the job was tired if my memory serves me and it was overlooked. Apparently, the captain pressed a button on the bridge that lit a light on the car deck signaling that it was time to close the doors. Somehow the doors were overlooked both by the captain and the kid and because of the sea state that night the bow acted like a scoop taking more more water into its lower decks until she couldn't keep upright by the force of the scooped up water sloshing side to side. Even though i was luckily not on board that night i still get a shiver and have occasional nightmares about it. It was just to close to home for my liking.

Tony ‘take no prisoners’ Bastable strikes again! His car reviews would put the fear of God in any manufacturer’s spokesperson, i don’t doubt for a second!

I’m Tony Bastable and this is where my hands are going to go.

I love that, the ferry company makes £2.50p on a bottle of spirits at duty free, shows you what we had to pay at duty paid prices

Among '96/'97 I took 4 times that ferry during travelling from Milan to London and viceversa by bus.. I miss so much those years

Ooh, how times have changed...😏

My dad, brother, and I did a Calais to Dover one time in the 80s. We took a hydrofoil. I don’t remember much about the name of the ship. It was fun, but I was mildly disappointed because I really really wanted to do the hovercraft. Sadly, I never got that chance, but I like seeing all the YT videos about that amazing ship.

Reminds me of French trips at school

Nice shiny Calais modern terminal..I'm sure they never envisaged it becoming just a magnet for migrant crossings and a huge refugee camp

I remember traveling from Harwich to the “Continent “ on my way up to Norway several times in 1981. How on earth did I manage to organize this without the web ? ... oh, now I remember; travel agents. The age before budget flights, when ferries, trains and busses were cheaper than air travel. Aaah, those were the days. Can’t afford international travel by train today ...

Pam’s quote about lack of deck space wasn’t quite true. TT’s ‘Spirit’ class vessels had ample promenade decks along both sides at vehicle deck level. Only problem was, you had to go DOWN several flights of stairs to access them, which few passengers ever did.

All 3 of these ships (Spirit, Herald, Pride of Free Enterprise) and their replacements, the Pride of Dover and the Pride of Calais, are now broken up, whereas Sealink's Sts Anselm and Christoper of similar vintage are still running elsewhere in 2020 for new owners. Does anyone have a copy of the 1970's Sealink advert with the song "We'll Show You the Way"?

My first trip across the Channel was Folkstone to Ostend, 1966, in a friends Triumph Herald. On a ferry not a triumph Herald.

What happened if you didn't have a Wife and a Ford Cortina ? All those men with Girlfriends and Ford Escort's, left at the Ferry terminal 😂

Just for a little perspective...£100 in 1980 is equivalent to £432 in today's money (using Bank Of England inflation calculator)

The glorious days of informative documentaries on the ITV network, of which Thames was one of the main providers. Pam Rhodes looks remarkably youthful and speaks with perfect received pronunciation. A rare quality these days. The three 'Spirit Class' Townsend Thoresen ships are all but a memory now. The Herald of Free Enterprise will of course be remembered for the most tragic reasons. Sealink's 'Saints' live on, a testament to their flexible design. But neither ferry company is in existence anymore. The world has certainly changed an awful lot in forty years and not necessarily for the better, sadly.

Very enlightened

I went on a day trip to Calais with three friends and the car. The cost was £25 return and they also gave me 6 bottles of wine.

Townsend Thoresen reminded me of Laker Airways of that time, trying to break the monopoly of the big carriers

Lovely.

Early 80's they did a 5 day ticket, car and 4 and sometimes l would do Oostende or Zebrugge and the price was 29 quid. This is interesting to watch thinking it was 'yesterday' but in fact almost 40 years ago.

In 1987 this ship hit ice in the channel and sank with the loss of 198 lives.

The directors of Towsend Thorsen should have all been jailed for manslaughter

40 years later and it’s cheaper to put a car on the Eurostar. I went before the disease and it was £88 for the article and two adults.

I remember the herald of free enterprise. Sad tragedy 😥

If someone wanted to bring 17illegal migrants in the back of a Transit Van would it be cheaper from le havre or calais ? (Asking for a friend)

I thought that I knew that face from somewhere.. Pam from Songs of Praise. She has hardly changed in nearly forty years. Some people age well. 🤔

0:44 Christopher Lee getting his lunch

Fun fact: Stan was 40 years old at the time of filming.

Ominous mention of the future launch of the Herald of Free Enterprise near the start of this clip.

In the 90’s I lived in France and you could get a day return for just £1. I would buy the ticket and then just not return. Bargain. Eventually they caught onto it and used to debit the full return rate from your card details.

It looks to me poor Stan could do with a laptop instead of the all that paperwork!

oh dear, the Herald Of Free Enterprise :(

0:41 The woman carrying the drinks is thinking " If the captain rocks this ship right now im gonna b not at all happy ". 🤣

It seems at that time the Cortina was the only car around.

I'm wondering if that's the band Squeeze sitting at a table in the Calais ferry terminal bar at 10:14, with Glenn Tilbrook and Jools Holland facing the camera. Can't see the other faces, but looks like they are talking to some others over at the bar, who might be part of the same entourage. Apparently they had a few gigs in the Netherlands and France in March 1980.

I thought for a minute the old man was a fan of Bergerac

In March of 1987 193 passengers and crew were killed on on of these ships from this company.

The Herald of Free Enterprise capsized in 1987. Almost 200 crew and passengers died. A terrible catastrophe.

The Herald of Tree Enterprise? If only they knew what was coming down the line. RIP

5:38 how was this man as a juvenile ? It is simply impossible to tell. This is the way I remember “Adults”, staid, humorless, cold and unapproachable. I shall be sixty next week, and, blimey, I ain’t like that geezer. 🥳

That Thames opening always reminds me of Benny Hill

There's still a ferry service between Newhaven and Dieppe. I went on the high-speed catamaran to Dieppe years ago. If the sea is calm it only takes an hour. The day I went the sea was extremely choppy. The catamaran was thrown all over the place. Most of the passengers got sea sick and to watch them bolt for the toilet to throw up was highly amusing. A friend of mine told me he was chased around a Dover to Calais ferry once by a Frenchman after he made a derogatory remark about France. I burst out laughing when he told me. He wasn't impressed. 😁

“Book you, the wife and the cortina”! He buckets the wife and the cortina as objects in the same sentence !

Very interesting

The AA guy sounds like Allan wicker .

Sorry Stan, still don't understand that simple table. Please explain it in even more detail for me thanks.

Do you have the full episode

1980. The world was simpler, neighbours spoke to one another, friends arranged to meet up and made sure to do so, political opponents had resepct for one another, nobody got depressed due to facebook life-lies and if you left your phone at home, that was okay because so did everyone else.

"It depends as to actually what, if you see what I mean, as an example .... " his mouth is talking but his brain's gone to the pub.

I cringed a bit when i saw the bit where they were boasting about the size of the car deck on the TT ferry.

So the programme was called "WHEELS", but it was focused on a cruise liner ? Ooookk then...

Look 👀 at 2.00 mins in Captain Manwaring from Dads Army buying his spirits 😂

What happened to the upper of Pam Rhodes' upper lip?

She mentioned the Herald of Free Enterprise! 😱😱😱

7:38 That fuel price rise was due to the oil price doubling as a result of events in the Middle East; first the Islamic Revolution in Iran that replaced the pro-Western Shah with the distinctly less pro-Western Ayatollah and then the Iran-Iraq War that severely damaged production in both countries.

6:13 I thought Bergerac was in Jersey?

£130 return now it's about £160 but just remember what you could buy or the wages back in 1980. Petrol about £1.50 gallon now £5.04 a gallon.

Wow, those fares - £100 in 1980 is over £400 today...

Pam is hot

Don't leave port with the front bay doors open 😐

The patron saint of Llandudno.

God the herald of free of Enterprise and we all know what happened to that some years later

Maybe it's cheaper now

Answers to questions would be a lot quicker if you didn’t ask dear old Stan. Bless ‘im for he speaks with comma’s and parentheses.

I had a crush on her

Ah Pam Rhodes. Whatever happened to her?

Proper Londoners/cockneys/insert here.... Comments have been very civilised so far 😲

Was this was the ship that sank with much loss of life just a few years later.

fares arn't that much more expensive today

Uccch, Dover to Calais in 1985 and felt sick as a dog. Never again 🤮🤮🤢

The Herald Of Free Enterprice ... remember the accident in the 80's

Somebody thew mud all over that poor girl's sweater.

At 2.02, Captain Mainwaring stocking up with gin!

Herald of free enterprise? Omg, tragic avoidable accident by incompetent lazy practices, poor people...

Wow Alan Partridge is real! What a knob standing there with his hands in his pockets and pointy elbows sticking out. 🤣 Then there’s the man pretending to be working until the Alan Partridge guy rocks up and just starts interviewing him! 🤣😆😂

No Churches mentioned in this video so we're allowed to comment on this one.

I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone!

Nice innocent looking female presenter, ripe for corruption 😉

I'm guessing many people in the video here have died.. why I'm i watching this late midnight

Modern fashion is so drab compared to 1980's fashion.

Don’t forget to shut your bow doirs

This was when England was England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Just remember to close the bow doors chaps 😬

Who an earth told that presenter to wear that God-Awful hand-knitted jumper .... she was probably in her 20’s and looked so frumpy!!!!!

WTF is Pam wearing?! 🤣

Boozers!

Biggaa