Post #3806963

2026-07-14 09:37 UTC

And here we go again Stena Line ferry Frederikshavn 🇩🇰 - Göteborg 🇸🇪 Stena Line check in staff will not accept my German driver's license as proof that my name on my ferry ticket is me, and insists I show an ID card or passport. "Et tysk kørekort er ikke gyldigt" (a German driving license is not valid - but Nordic ones are) the stern check in staff member tells me, and takes my boarding pass away.

Replies (4)

@jon@gruene.social 2026-07-14 09:38

"Du er ikke en grænsekontrol" (you are not a border control) I tell her, "Dette er en regel hos Stena Line" she replies So we de facto have the ferry company acting as a border control There is no legitimate reason a ferry company can need any information other than to prove I am who I say I am on my ticket - when I am sailing from one EU country in Schengen to another (Denmark to Sweden)

Open ##3806962
@androcat@toot.cat 2026-07-14 09:40

@jon@gruene.social Wow. It's like they don't expect anyone but residents of the two endpoints to want to travel between the two endpoints. Like, fuck the whole rest of the world, huh?

Open ##3851836
@whvholst@eupolicy.social 2026-07-14 10:03

@jon@gruene.social Running the risk of mansplaining, but in quite a few EU member states their national drivers license is a valid ID, but foreign ones are not, simply because they have not yet been standardised across the EU. Especially the German ones are a nightmare because some German states have issued drivers licenses with indefinite validity.

Open ##3986090
@nafmo@social.vivaldi.net 2026-07-14 20:04

@jon@gruene.social The Nordic passport union (now part of Schengen) allow Nordic driver's licenses, in addition to passports/NIDs, as valid documents for passing a border. They are just making sure you are allowed to disembark on the other side, else they are liable to return you to Denmark.

Open ##3986094