England - Folkestone - French and British officials during Channel Tunnel ceremony

A theatrical joke about bureaucracy between French and British comedians at an event to mark the opening of the Channel Tunnel produces this quirky scene where each country's officials are seated at a long table, dressed in British flags, to symbolise the controls on human traffic that will soon pass through the tunnel beneath the sea between England and France, the first physical link between these two land masses since the Ice Age. Wearing smart uniforms, French immigration police and Gendarmes sit among British customs and immigration officials who, rather comically wear yellow hard hats because Health and Safety laws make the wearing of protective headgear compulsory on construction sites. A frontier control point notice stands for the benefit of viewers who might otherwise be guessing what is going on.

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Filename: eurotunnel12-01-1990.jpg
Copyright: © Richard Baker. No copying, screen grabbing, transmission or publication without permission.
Image Size: 5314x3524 / 4.1MB; www.photoshelter.com/support/license; https://www.bakerpictures.com/contact; border control HM Customs British officials immigration Eurotunnel Channel Tunnel makeshift comedy funny joke witty light-hearted humor humour suits hard hats Gendarme French Anglo-French cross-border migration frontier point table flags civil service briefcase job jobsworth entente-cordiale fraternal friendship co-operation colleagues international amicable territorial Britain British England English soil home and away ground entrance wall concrete construction TML project historic milestone quirky ridiculous comical Health and safety protective uniforms headgear link relations Customs & Excise completion opening event madcap odd theatrical
Contained in galleries: UK Border agency

A theatrical joke about bureaucracy between French and British comedians at an event to mark the opening of the Channel Tunnel produces this quirky scene where each country's officials are seated at a long table, dressed in British flags, to symbolise the controls on human traffic that will soon pass through the tunnel beneath the sea between England and France, the first physical link between these two land masses since the Ice Age. Wearing smart uniforms, French immigration police and Gendarmes sit among British customs and immigration officials who, rather comically wear yellow hard hats because Health and Safety laws make the wearing of protective headgear compulsory on construction sites. A frontier control point notice stands for the benefit of viewers who might otherwise be guessing what is going on.