For the past seven years Fabien Henissart, 40, has switched countries twice a day, crossing the sea and resetting his watch, back and forth. “You get used to it, you know,” says this resident of Boulogne in northern France.
Every morning he drives his car to the Eurotunnel shuttle terminal, picking up several workmates on the way. After a 35-minute journey they emerge in southern England and carry on to Ashford, the first large town after the tunnel exit.
Ashford is home to SBE-UK, an after-sales services company specialising in electronics, where they work. “Door-to-door, it takes an hour and a half, no more than if I worked in the Paris area,” Henissart explains.
He gains an hour on the outward journey, but loses it again on the way back, so he is rarely home before 8pm. But he would not change for anything. “The atmosphere in the UK is much more cosmopolitan and cheerful than in France,” he adds. “Above all there are more jobs.”
According to official figures published by the French ministry of labour, the number of unemployed rose by 0.8% in July, reaching 3.42 million, with unemployment affecting 10.2% of the active population, compared with 7.5% before the financial crisis. Across the channel, unemployment fell to 6.6% in June. Article in the Guardian by Marie Charrel
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