"Dan Stephenson" wrote in message
...
On 2016-01-30 16:51:38 +0000, Martin said:

On Sat, 30 Jan 2016 17:22:01 +0100, Wolfgang Schwanke
wrote:

Martin wrote in
:

Britain is not in Schengen.

But in the EU, which entitles UK citizens to freedom of movement.
The passport check is just a formality.

Not really the check is to filter out Non-EU members too
The thoroughness of the check depends on whether the check is at an
airport, or
ferry terminal or land boundary.

When I took the ferry from Portsmouth to France in 2002, I stayed at the
railing to watch the ship approach the dock. Then discovered everyone
already departed and it took a while before I found my way out through the
ship's loading dock. No one cared.

A similar situation existed when I visited Ireland. Between the Republic
and UK sides of Ireland, there was no border controls.

That's correct there are no border controls between the UK/Ireland (hasn't
been since before Ireland joined the EU), but that state of affairs is
sustainable because neither are in Schengen.

Of course, this works the other way in the other European "Free Travel
Area" - Scandinavia, in that Norway has to be part of Schengen in order to
preserve its historic lack of customs controls at the land border with
Sweden/Finland (and Denmark if you count ferry crossings)

tim