Hundreds ‘rescued’ in Eurostar chaos
Passengers finally continue journey as thousands hit by disruption and delays after claims of refugees ‘on train roof’
AFTER a night of chaos for Eurostar passengers a ‘rescue’ train left Calais for London this morning loaded with hundreds of passengers stranded through the night because of by people on the tracks.
Thousands of travellers faced a very difficult night of delays and disruption as Eurostar and Eurotunnel trains were halted when power was cut on the high-speed line after reports of refugees on top of a train.
One London-bound train from Paris was stuck all night just outside Calais with hundreds of people aboard – and some passengers saying they had been told to “listen for trespassers on the roof”. Others complained of a lack of water and food - with the lighting being switched off.
Eurostar tweeted that a “rescue train” was in Calais to pick up passengers from the cancelled Paris-London train and take them to London where “food vouchers and hot drinks will be available”.
However, getting the train underway caused even more distress for passengers who had been awake since yesterday morning - with the train not leaving Calais until just after 10.30 due to delays in getting passengers through security again.
A Eurostar spokesman said this morning that services this morning were “normal after only two cancellations: a train from Paris and a train from London” with other services delayed for about two hours.
The arrival of the #eurostar to collect us has now been pushed back to 8:30. This is becoming a fiasco. pic.twitter.com/N4R38M1wwM— Simon Gentry (@Simon_Gentry) September 2, 2015
The company’s website said two trains were unable to complete their journeys last night and two this morning – the 7.55 London-Paris and 11.13 Paris-London were cancelled.
The massive disruption – which had a knock-on effect on freight transport and left hundreds of lorries stuck on roads near Calais – comes just two days after French Prime Minister Manuel Valls visited Calais and said the France-UK border there was “fully under control”.
His claims came after weeks where there were reports of up to 2,000 people trying to get into the Channel Tunnel each night.
