Trip to Nice has gone to the dogs

Ms L.F. writes: I booked our dogs to be transported to Nice with easyPet, while we travelled to France separately. Then our vet said if we were not driving the animals to Nice, the easyPet driver needed to be present at a meeting with the vet when the necessary Animal Health Certificate was issued. I checked with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and they confirmed that the person responsible for the pets needs to be present if the owner is not present. EasyPet said it would be impossible for drivers to visit every vet, so we cancelled our trip.

WHAT this comes down to is the exact meaning of the advice from Defra, and how your vet interpreted it. According to Defra, when the pet’s health certificate is completed, allowing it to cross borders, the person responsible for the animal must be present if the owner is not able to be present.

But this does not say that the person present with the animal must be the same person that actually drives the pet out of the country.

In short, you could take your dogs to the vet to get their health certificates and then hand them over to the easyPet driver. The bottom line is that your vet is wrong, and I am sorry that this has spoiled your trip to France.