I understand that since 1992, several European countries ended passport checks on their borders. So now when I get the train from Paris to Rome I just step off the train at the other side and never have to present a passport.
When I take the Eurostar in London, I don’t need to show a passport in Paris yet the UK hasn’t signed up to the ‘Schengen’ agreement. Is this normal?
Last time I did a eurostar run (and it really was a run, unusually I was late 
and the train was boarding as I got to the station) I had to show a passport it’s just the passport controls for both countries are at the Paris end.
I’ll show you one day this summer ok ?
"The 15 Schengen countries are: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Greece, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. All these countries except Norway and Iceland are European Union members."
(from here)
Typically, the UK is not a member. And since there is an agreement between the UK and Ireland allowing people who have entered one to pass freely (i.e. without having to show a passport) to the other, it makes sense that Ireland cannot be a member either. I cannot lay hands on the authority for this statement, but it may be somewhere here.
The French, IME are pretty lax about these things. I’d be really surprised if you didn’t have to show a passport going the other way though.
When I went from France to England on the Eurostar train, I most definitely had to show my passport upon entering the UK. There is an Immigration processing area in Waterloo International station.
Ah ok. I only ask as the returning Welsh fans who came to Paris to support their team last weekend didn’t have to show their passports when they arrived in the UK. Maybe it was due to crowd numbers or just not wanting to keep the fans from getting to their local for a pint 
They would have shown them to Birtish Immigration before boarding the train in France but the two control points are so close together, a couple or yards (not to mention the stresses and strains of the weekend’s celebrations) they might not have noticed that the second guy they showed a passport to was Bristih not French.
Oops missed Sunspace’s post :wally
Things must have changed since my last trip (Sept. '03)