SAFETY AND EMERGENCIES

Security and Medical

 Like all cities, Lille has its problems. There’s a lot of begging. Particularly around the station. Some mugging too. They’re organised and fast! The area around the station is particularly affected by it at night. If you’re flashing you kitty money around on the table outside a bar, be aware there’s a very resourceful and annoying accordion player who will quickly vanish it!

It’s a fairly clean city. The French are way ahead of the UK on recycling and litter collecting.

Most public toilets cost a euro. You’d be better off getting an espresso at a cafe and partaking of their facilities.

There’s a strong, heavily armed police presence in French cities, Gendarmes and Police Nationale. If you don’t cause them problems, they won’t cause you them! Plus be prepared to encounter military patrols. It’s normal, nothing to do with you lot! The Gendarmes are perfectly happy to have photos taken with them. I’d steer clear of the military. Remember to carry your ID at all times.

Don’t forget, the Gendarmes are paramilitary. If there’s trouble, they will have NO qualms about wading in! You’ll be pepper sprayed within seconds.

It seems a fair assumption that there will be a massive police presence for the Tour de France.

I’ve read some rumours of attempts by disgruntled workers to disrupt the start by. Personally I think it’s scaremongering. The unions have been wary of using the Tour to air their grievances ever since Bernard Hinault lamped that striker at Paris-Nice in 1984! If you don’t read the French press, the early warning signs of a riot/march are the litter bins vanish and the bars start serving beer in plastic cups!

Medical Things

There are pharmacies everywhere (the French are hypochondriacs); one directly outside Gare Lille-Flandres. Anything more serious – hopefully not ­– you need to get yourself to CHU, a huge university hospital complex; it’s on the Metro (line M1). Emergency dental service there too. France, like the UK, has a shortage of dentists, so that’s basically your only option.