# News in Gibraltar



## _antonio (Jul 28, 2014)

Hi all,

I know there are plenty of info about the problems at Gibraltar and la Linea for commuting every day (I"ve searched in the forum), but I am reading about some news coming up and looks like the EU is finally taking care of that problem, so I was wondering how is going for people to commute from Spain to Gibraltar nowadays?

I am having contact from people there (job in the gaming industry, which seems to go very well), and would love to move in to this sunny place(I live in the North of Europe now, so .. I am looking for sun ) but I had a look at what's happening at the border and is quite scary. I saw videos on youtube of police (spanish) beating people, make them waste a lot of time, even 4 hours in line to enter, in general it looks like a nightmare commuting everyday from la linea to Gib. But I also see that living in Gib is really expensive ..

This is something that is keeping me away from accept the offers, but on the other hand even if I've never been there, it looks so lovely and nice, and I lived in the past for 3 years in Spain so I speak fluent spanish and have a good feeling with spanish people and love Spain.

So is the situation improved or still there are struggles everyday to go in and out of Gib?


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Hi Antonio, welcome!

You have seen videos of Spanish police beating people???? Where?

My friend's husband commutes to Gib every day (he also works in the gaming industry) and it's really not that bad. If you go in by car, there are queues at the best of times because people go in to get cheap petrol. Expect to wait between 15 minutes and an hour. On foot or bicycle you just go right in. My friend parks in La Linea and goes in on a folding bicycle.

Coming out takes longer, because you have to go through Spanish customs. Gibraltar isn't part of the EU Customs Union so there are strict limits on how much booze and tobacco you can take out. Because of the massive smuggling problem the Spanish customs do undertake random vehicle searches. Very occasionally (usually when there's a political dispute going on) they do more searches than usual, and this can mean long delays. But it is not routine by any means; normally you are out in five minutes, or longer depending on the time of day.


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## _antonio (Jul 28, 2014)

Alcalaina said:


> Hi Antonio, welcome!
> 
> You have seen videos of Spanish police beating people???? Where?
> 
> ...


Hi Alcalaina, 

thanks for the info's and clarifications, is important for me to listen to those who already live there and commute everyday. I asked to several people and many showed me these video's (I am aware that is a political issue, so also people might be influenced in their judgement by their political views).
I am new to the forum so I cannot post videos, go on youtube and search for those :
*"SPAIN V GIBRALTAR Guardia Civil "/SNIP/ - Frontier Confrontation Insult Touris"*
*Incidente en frontera de gibraltar entre policia y guardia civil contra un hombre 
*
You should find it easily.
Have been told that this happens almost everyday, but for me sounds a little bit weird.
Now I read some news about EU involved in the situation and I was hoping things could get better now.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

_antonio said:


> Hi Alcalaina,
> 
> thanks for the info's and clarifications, is important for me to listen to those who already live there and commute everyday. I asked to several people and many showed me these video's (I am aware that is a political issue, so also people might be influenced in their judgement by their political views).
> I am new to the forum so I cannot post videos, go on youtube and search for those :
> ...


I found it. The customs officers detained a man on a bike who clearly didn't want to be searched (I wonder why). As I said, smuggling occurs on a massive scale. But no, I promise you they don't beat up people on a daily basis!


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## _antonio (Jul 28, 2014)

Alcalaina said:


> Hi Antonio, welcome!
> 
> You have seen videos of Spanish police beating people???? Where?
> 
> ...





Alcalaina said:


> I found it. The customs officers detained a man on a bike who clearly didn't want to be searched (I wonder why). As I said, smuggling occurs on a massive scale. But no, I promise you they don't beat up people on a daily basis!


AHhahha, I thought about it. I know this won't happen every day but just wondering how really is commuting everyday and how many problems can someone find. which basically means, it is convenient living near in Spain or should I just live in Gib ?(which seems high expensive and poor apartments)


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

_antonio said:


> Hi Alcalaina,
> 
> thanks for the info's and clarifications, is important for me to listen to those who already live there and commute everyday. I asked to several people and many showed me these video's (I am aware that is a political issue, so also people might be influenced in their judgement by their political views).
> I am new to the forum so I cannot post videos, go on youtube and search for those :
> ...



that was filmed at a time when tension was high - & yes it's political


as Alcalaina said - it's not usually like that

this is live 

Frontier Queue Live - Gibraltar


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## _antonio (Jul 28, 2014)

xabiachica said:


> that was filmed at a time when tension was high - & yes it's political
> 
> 
> as Alcalaina said - it's not usually like that
> ...


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## davexf (Jan 26, 2009)

Hi

The cameras don´t show the queues to get in; as has been said, it can be an hour or so depending on what time of day etc. And there have been hour long queues for foot passengers when the Police decided that it was "their turn". 

You don´t have to be a smuggler to get stopped; indeed I was stopped six times in succession (over a three month period) two years ago - why? because I had a van type car that could have millions of cigarettes on-board. 

It used to be that you were almost guaranteed not to be stopped if you went through before eight o´clock, but nowadays, who knows?

Davexf


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

The main problem is the sheer unpredictability.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

A bit of good news for commuters: the Spanish government have announced that there will be a special "fast track" card for the 6,000 people who cross the border every day to go to work in Gibraltar. It will be available to rresidents of La Linea, Algeciras, San Roque, Los Barrios and Castellar de la Frontera. 

They are also starting work in August on a new traffic lane through Customs, to ease the queueing delays.

España agilizará el cruce de La Verja por los trabajadores fronterizos | Política | EL PAÍS


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