Cancel Belgian pleasure Craft form

[Daydream believer]

I filed a Pleasure craft form yesterday to Ostend. However, due to an engine malfunction, I had to turn back. I want to cancel the Schengen application form. The emails are to a "no reply" email address even though it was acknowledged. I have tried ringing the number on the door on the border control office at Ostend which I saved when there last time. I just get some bleeps & nothing else. I assume I have the number correct -003259561530

Does anyone know how to cancel it please? The UK one was easy I just emailed yachtline then phoned to check they had received the email, which they had
Thanks

 

[westhinder]

I filed a Pleasure craft form yesterday to Ostend. However, due to an engine malfunction, I had to turn back. I want to cancel the Schengen application form. The emails are to a "no reply" email address even though it was acknowledged. I have tried ringing the number on the door on the border control office at Ostend which I saved when there last time. I just get some bleeps & nothing else. I assume I have the number correct -003259561530

Does anyone know how to cancel it please? The UK one was easy I just emailed yachtline then phoned to check they had received the email, which they had
Thanks

The phone number is correct. I’m afraid I can’t advise you about cancelling the Schengen form, but I suspect it won’t matter much, since you haven’t completed the procedure.

 

[Daydream believer]

The phone number is correct. I’m afraid I can’t advise you about cancelling the Schengen form, but I suspect it won’t matter much, since you haven’t completed the procedure.

I actually found an email address at the bottom of the acknowledgement of the form. I tried that I got a nice email back thanking me & telling me that I could update the form. however, i am not sure that I can get access to it. But the chap has updated their database & said he was pleased that I got back safely.
For anyone reading this post the email I used was
DGA.SPN.KUST.BCPNO@police.belgium.eu
So it is sorted thanks

 

[Daydream believer]

The phone number is correct. I’m afraid I can’t advise you about cancelling the Schengen form, but I suspect it won’t matter much, since you haven’t completed the procedure.

That number is the one to use when one arrives at the office when it is closed. If it is not being answered it seems that it could cause issues to boats arriving/departing who want to get their passports stamped. More so when departing.
My friends are going to Ostend on Saturday so i will ask them to check if the number has been changed or if the out of hours procedure is suddenly different

 

[dolabriform]

That number is the one to use when one arrives at the office when it is closed. If it is not being answered it seems that it could cause issues to boats arriving/departing who want to get their passports stamped. More so when departing.
My friends are going to Ostend on Saturday so i will ask them to check if the number has been changed or if the out of hours procedure is suddenly different

Was it the same number I had on my write up?

 

[bluerm166]

This Belgian Pleasure Craft Declaration caused me great difficulty last year* and is going to do so again this year for the simple reason that it cannot be saved .Meaning that where your dates are uncertain ( we are sailing) it has to be dispatched at the last minute so filled in from scratch every time when en route,with an uncertain web connection .
I haven't tried sending /submitting the form to my alternative email as a draft ,but there ought to be a way of retrieving it for last minute touches - before despatching it into the ether.Logging in for autofill doesn't seem to be an option for the UK visitor.

*Having successfully found a living soul in the office adjacent Ostende station ( like the Marie Celeste) and got my stamp I was still asked to fill in the form electronically ,so returning to the boat I tried to do so ,but was frustrated by it's repeated disappearance when on the closing straight.By this time the office was closed and the phone unmanned for over an hour.So the form was never actually dispatched.

 

[Daydream believer]

There is a dud version of the form on the internet that does just that & has not, as far as I am aware, been removed. You may have saved it & are using the dud version. It is very eratic.
Try down loading another copy & you might find it more stable. Do not forget that it will crash if you do not fill in page 2 - passenger details. You also have to note that skipper details get filled in twice. I forget the exact process, but read it carefully & you will see what has happened after the 99th attempt.
Another point is that they do not come to the harbour quite so often. So tell them you are leaving a bit earlier than you actually intend to leave. ie if leaving early morning , say you are leaving early the night before. That gives you breathing space to sort things out & not delay your departure. They will not come and look for you at midnight to check that you have left.

If they do come down & find you have not left give them a silly excuse- Wife had had morning sickness, (Not recommended for over 60's ) over slept, bad weather etc. but you are about to go. That should get you away OK . They are pretty relaxed. They visted the harbour for a short while & they casually asked if I had logged in, as they walked past. Did not even stop. I said I had & they thanked me & wandered off. No checks etc.
In the past, when diesel was an issue, if I saw them coming, I just got off the boat & went up on the quayside until they left.

 

[MontyMariner]

However, due to an engine malfunction, I had to turn back.

This is a god point, maybe if allowed, not sending the form off till you arrive?

 

[dolabriform]

This is a god point, maybe if allowed, not sending the form off till you arrive?

This is what I did, and they weren't worried about it. On departure I filled in the form, submitted it and then walked to their office to get the stamp.

The lack of ability to save the details on the form is really frustrating, one thing that the UK did get right in that you can save the skipper and crew details, and create a draft passage plan, ready to submit when you leave.
I also like that you can create the return to uk form by clicking a button.

 

[oldmanofthehills]

This is what I did, and they weren't worried about it. On departure I filled in the form, submitted it and then walked to their office to get the stamp.

The lack of ability to save the details on the form is really frustrating, one thing that the UK did get right in that you can save the skipper and crew details, and create a draft passage plan, ready to submit when you leave.
I also like that you can create the return to uk form by clicking a button.

The uk form says it is a Beta version, and I cannot amend my return to UK details having been delayed 10 days in France by bad weather. I rang yacht line who said just gives us a call when in range of UK phone system and seemed unpeturbed

 

[bluerm166]

I have posted an item on the East Coast forum describing my failed experience in filling in the digital Belgium form and seeking the more successful experience of others.
The post might well have been better posted here so here is the text :

'Having settled on Ramsgate/Nieuwpoort as my solo default crossing route (in settled weather) and entry to Schengen when heading for the Netherlands I was again frustrated by an inability to complete and lodge the Belgian online Pleasure Craft declaration i.e. Pleasure Craft Declaration . Whatever I do I get stuck when diverting to the crew list from which I cannot return to and complete and submit the main form.
After difficulty last year I took the precaution of completing the form on my PC up to the point of filling in the dates and submitting ,and saved this form for possible completion by pen and submission on board via tablet when en route in Ramsgate.I used the email address kindly provided in another thread by Daydream Believer.This in desperation and anticipation that the tablet would not be successful with the digital version.
Of course it was not, but the form that I prefilled on PC plus penned in dates was happily accepted as a gesture of goodwill by the amiable politie in the wigwam building at Nieuwpoort,and a stamp was received.
I was also surprised to be given copies of the 'Controlformulier Schengen Plezierhavens Belgie' which can be filled in by hand,on arrival, but which no-one else had previously offered during my travails.

My difficulty in lodging digitally ( apart from the fact that you cannot save your work at any stage) has been with 10'' Samsung tablet : SM T 510 Android 11 using Firefox or Chrome browser
On leaving Nieuwpoort an officer told me from Ostende on the phone that if solo,making an entry as skipper on the crew list was probably causing the issue,despite the crew list form offering this description and demanding to be filled in..
I had already tried every which-way but did so again and it made no difference.
Happily the handfilled form was readily accepted on departure and all my forms and passport were stamped out.None of the forms/copies were retained.

I would be grateful if the many other successful entrants to Schengen in Belgium on this forum would let me know :
What device and browser did you use to complete and lodge the digital form successfully ? If an Android device,what version of OS is it using ?
Did you use the same source of digital form as above,or did you find it somewhere else ?
If solo how did you handle the crew list?

Thanks in anticipation.'

It would be timely after the minimal and painless interaction with our own borderforce involved in crossing to and returning from the continent to express appreciation of whoever devised the UK form.

 

[Sandy]

This Belgian Pleasure Craft Declaration caused me great difficulty last year* and is going to do so again this year for the simple reason that it cannot be saved .Meaning that where your dates are uncertain ( we are sailing) it has to be dispatched at the last minute so filled in from scratch every time when en route,with an uncertain web connection .
I haven't tried sending /submitting the form to my alternative email as a draft ,but there ought to be a way of retrieving it for last minute touches - before despatching it into the ether.Logging in for autofill doesn't seem to be an option for the UK visitor.

*Having successfully found a living soul in the office adjacent Ostende station ( like the Marie Celeste) and got my stamp I was still asked to fill in the form electronically ,so returning to the boat I tried to do so ,but was frustrated by it's repeated disappearance when on the closing straight.By this time the office was closed and the phone unmanned for over an hour.So the form was never actually dispatched.

When filling in any online form I copy the data entered to a notepad file, other simple word processors are available, just in case I need to re-enter the data at any time.

 

[dolabriform]

I filled it in using Chrome on a Mac. I was solo and it let me put the same details in for Skipper as a single Entry on the crew list. I made sure I had a good internet connection when I did it as it had crashed before when my connection was a bit iffy.

 

[DanTribe]

I had a similar experience at Nieuwpoort last year. On the way out I couldn't do it on line nor could the harbour master at the air force marina nor a police woman or sergeant at the police office. Eventually the sergeant said he had phoned someone and it will be OK.
On return I still couldn't do it on line nor could the young harbourmaster at the big marina. The was a note stuck on the police office in Vlaamse, which I understood to say "yachtsmen, don't try to register your visit or leaving, we don't want to know!" The post box was welded shut.

 

[bluerm166]

Ah ,thank you dolabriform .But I am puzzled.
I enter myself as Submitter . I enter myself as an owner/operator person. Are you saying that on the crewlist I should classify myself as crew rather than skipper. Or otherwise how do you 'put in the same details in for skipper and as a single entry on the crew list' ? There is no entry for skipper requested in the main part of the form. How do you get back to the main form from the ancillary Crew List section. Is it automatic ?
Interesting that you used a Mac + chrome.assume that is a Mac laptop ?
I take the point about the good internet connection .I pretty well always use tethering from my phone and find it very reliable.

 

[bluerm166]

Thanks Sandy but as you see I armed myself with a full printed copy of the form and entries taken from my PC so that if nothing else it would speed things up when en route.
Unfortunately by now I pretty well know the entries by heart.

 

[bluerm166]

Thanks Dan,I am not crazy then but getting that way.
But I do still have two of the forms for filling by hand for next time if they haven't sorted out the ETIAS system.
And I have still to try using my smartphone or by using MS Edge on the tablet.

' IT malfunctions in exotic places .......'

 

[dolabriform]

Ah ,thank you dolabriform .But I am puzzled.
I enter myself as Submitter . I enter myself as an owner/operator person. Are you saying that on the crewlist I should classify myself as crew rather than skipper. Or otherwise how do you 'put in the same details in for skipper and as a single entry on the crew list' ? There is no entry for skipper requested in the main part of the form. How do you get back to the main form from the ancillary Crew List section. Is it automatic ?
Interesting that you used a Mac + chrome.assume that is a Mac laptop ?
I take the point about the good internet connection .I pretty well always use tethering from my phone and find it very reliable.

Apologies for the confusion...

I meant I just filled in my details as the Skipper in the persons on board list. Entered the same details as Owner and as Submitter and it was happy.

I've edited my original post, it should have said
"put the same details in for Skipper as a single entry on the crew list"

There's a close button in the bottom right of the POB form, and an X in the top right , either will close it.

Yes, it was a mac laptop.

 

[bluerm166]

Many thanks dolabriform for this forensic info.
Maybe it is as simple as the displayed area then failing to show the full page..
Something for me to examine.
Thanks again for taking the time.

 

[Seven Spades]

What is the procedure for those that do not have access to a computer? I still send paper C1331 by post rather than fill out the forms on-line.