UKC

Going to France for around a month this August and planning to both boulder and sport climb. To save space and fit more people into our cars my friends and I often strap pads to our car roofs with ratchet straps. Has anyone done this whilst travelling in the tunnel, and if so, have there been any problems?

I see that you have to select whether you have a roof box/bicycles or not for an extra fee so I would assume I’d have to pay for that?

Depending on vehicle height you may need to go in the double height section with campervans, vans and coaches. Not sure if you pay extra for this or not.

You do not pay extra for roof box but, at busy times, there may be less choice of crossing time. 

Could you not temporarily un strap them? (put them on the boot/passenger laps for loading?) 1.85m is the magic number to get on the often cheaper double deck spaces

We can try, but as the car will have climbing and camping stuff for three people for a month this may very well not be possible as the car isn’t huge. I will check after work but I’m pretty sure even with the pads it’s sub 1.85m, but thanks for the heads up!

Really? The website makes it seem as if any add ons whether that be roof boxes, bike racks etc must be paid for? Just worried about getting smacked with an overpriced fine if I don’t 😬

If you have Snap pads you can remove the cells and stuff these into all kinds of nooks and crannies within the car.

Why not just phone them? Saves getting contrasting advice on an internet forum.

Run it through with and without a roof rack for the same crossing and see how much it affects the price. One reason we initially used the tunnel was that unlike the ferries we didn't get hit with extra chargers for being over 1.85m.

I stand corrected!   Certainly in the past there was no price difference but just did a test booking for mid Sep with and without roof box and looks like £13 extra each way with the box. 
Sorry for duff info.

Can you strap them to the back of the car? we've got a towbar, and in the past have mounted them to a towball based (small and cheap) bike carrier. Also made car easier to drive and with better fuel consumption than on the roof........not much use if you dont have a towbar or similar though.....

but from others advice above, i'd be happy to pay a bit extra to put them on the roof rather than try to cram the car even more with them.......

Ah awesome-tbh for the hassle and space I think we will pay the £13 assuming it all comes in under 1.85m. Thanks!

Unfortunately not no, as we have the straps going over the pads then through the car between the roof/doors

Pretty sure you would then be paying for extra length rather than height on the crossing.

OP will have to strap them all on the bonnet then