What could we lose ?
Danny I'm sure that you've realised since that the only way that you could have avoided FTC was to ask for it! Were you not raised on the stories of Br'er Rabbit? He begged not to be thrown into the Briar Patch simply to ensure that would be the case, and from which he could then make his escape. If you'd read those stories to Mary, perhaps she could have best advised you?
Just making the Ferry home I can empathise with, for having made the wrong turning off the Lille bypass, I lost so much time in driving to the end of that spur and retracing my steps again, that I barely had time to shop at the Calais Duty Free and fill the rear of my brand new VW Polo (that I was importing from W Berlin).
The filling up with crates of wine was an essential part of the whole complex financial construct, so naturally could not be avoided. The result was that, like you, I was last aboard my booked Hovercraft, and as they secured the car so the doors closed behind it. Next stop Dover Customs and the demand for much Gelt (not for the wine, but for the car).