I use this service multiple times a week and in both directions. When it runs properly, its a fantastic service! But the calais side is by far the worst side! It is an unnecessarily long process just to get through to the lanes. Don't bother even checking the train times on the app as they stop your lane half way through just to send a half empty train! 4 departures an hour, but sat in the lanes for over 30 minutes? I wonder how they get to those departure numbers.
The staff are friendly enough though.
The coffee on board is rancid but the hot chocolate is nice enough.
Toilets can be hit and miss to the cleanliness, but thats down to the drivers. And let's face it, how many don't practice self hygiene. The toilet flushes only work as and when they want to.
The carriages themselves are right enough. But I wonder when the last time they were given a deep clean was.
Using the service today, I had over a 30 min wait I the lanes and there were only 10 drivers on board the carriage whilst the lanes were getting very full. They could have fit atleast another 2 lanes of trucks on this train alone.
They prioritise passenger trains over freight.
In January 2025, they removed the duty free from the UK side from freight drivers but kept the passenger side to which we have no access. We was told this would be for 6 weeks or so whilst they build a new one. Middle of August and there is still no duty free for freight drivers on the english side.
There is so much room for improvement, but you never see any change.