Compensation for Eurostar delays

EUROSTAR is offering refunds and "enhanced compensation" to thousands of travellers who were delayed by a series of breakdowns in the Channel Tunnel last week.

About 2,000 people were left stuck in the tunnel for 11 hours and more than 120,000 people stranded on either side of the Channel in the weekend before Christmas.

Services were disrupted from December 18 to 24 and many passengers struggled to find other ways to get home in time for the festive break.

Passengers on the eight trains that were the worst affected by the delays will get a full refund, an additional free return journey on Eurostar in the next 12 months, €170 in cash and "reasonable out-of-pocket expenses" to cover accommodation (up to three stars), transport and meals.

The affected trains were: Trains 9053, 9055, 9057, 9059, 9063, 9163 on Friday December 18, and trains 9035 and 9043 on Saturday December 19.

The compensation form can be downloaded here (PDF)

Other passengers who were delayed by more than an hour are entitled to a free one-way journey in the same class of travel as the original ticket, or a 50% discount off a return fare.

A full free return journey is on offer to anyone delayed by more than two hours and out-of-pocket expenses will be paid for any "significant delays".

Passengers should write with their booking reference number, original receipts and bank details to: Traveller Care, 2nd Floor, Kent House, 81 Station Road, Ashford, Kent, TN23 1AP, United Kingdom

Refunds

If you booked directly with Eurostar and were unable to travel between December 18 and 24, you can send a refund request by email using this form, mentioning your booking reference number.

Passengers who booked using another website or travel agent should take their tickets back to the original point of sale.

Eurostar says it is dealing with a high volume of emails and letters and hopes to respond to everyone "within the next couple of weeks".

Last week's Eurostar problems were caused after four trains heading from Paris to London broke down in the tunnel. Two of the trains had no heating or lighting.

The trains all broke down after they left the heavy snow and freezing air of the north of France for the much warmer air inside the Channel Tunnel.

The SNCF has opened an enquiry into what went wrong. Transport Secretary Dominique Bussereau said: “Traffic blocked for several days in a row is not acceptable – it is not reasonable that this fundamental transport link between Britain and France stops working because of snow.”

Services returned to normal on Boxing Day.