The UK Embassy in Kyiv has detailed the travel advice given to England fans following our post Tuesday about the Catch 22 choice reportedly facing some of them.

On Tuesday we highlighted The Times reported [paywall] England fans travelling to the Ukraine in hired camper vans have been asked by border officials to park them in a car park, walk across the border, and catch the bus to the match.

Ukrainian law requires drivers to produce original ownership documents to border officials.  Of course, car rental companies are unlikely to supply customers with the original documents of title for rented vehicles and an EU official reportedly said that some have paid to avoid the inconvenience.

We highlighted the unsatisfactory state of affairs that it is unclear if payments allegedly being made are lawful or not.  The UK Embassy confirmed that no British Nationals have approached the Embassy about this issue.

Detailing travel advice given to England fans a spokesperson for the UK Embassy in Ukraine informed us:

“Advice to British Nationals is in our Travel Advice for Ukraine and on our Euro2012 web-page.  We have also sought to communicate the messages in Travel Advice through the England fanzine, Free Lions, and through collaboration with the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine, who produced a guide to border crossing regulations for Euro 2012.”

England fans hoping for practical advice about whether or not they should try to drive hired camper vans accross the Ukrainian border will be disappointed.

The Embassy response did elicit one new piece of guidance produced  by  the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine, (EUBAM) who produced a guide which deals specifically with the border crossing regulations for Euro 2012.

The bad news is that while EUBAM promotes its guidance as providing “football fans with important border crossing, customs, security and consular information in both Ukraine and Poland” there is no advice directed to drivers of rental vehicles.

There is some good news in the shape of additional advice no doubt vital for some…

The EUBAM Euro 2012 guidance flags that fans can enter the Ukraine with 3 mammals, 6 birds and 20 fish provided they are presented with appropriate veterinary documentation.

Though in a bitter sweet moment fans travelling from the Ukraine to Poland may be faced with a nasty dilemma.  Animal entry rules differ between the Ukraine and Poland and the EUBAM guidance on the rules for entering Poland vaguely states: “if you bring in up to 5 pets (cats, dogs, ferrets) control is carried out by customs (note: check additional veterinary requirements).”

EUBAM Document

Leaflet Pl Uk Engl