More delays after Eurostar breakdown

EUROSTAR is running a reduced service today and over the weekend after another train broke down in the Channel Tunnel.

Nine early morning and late evening services have been cancelled and the cross-Channel train operator is recommending that anyone who does not urgently need to travel postpones or cancels their trip.

It says the move is a precautionary measure, after a train heading from Brussels to London with 236 people on board got stuck in the tunnel for two hours yesterday morning and had to be shunted out.

Three other trains were stopped near the tunnel entrance in Calais and ended up being turned back to Paris. Eurostar says the problem was not linked to the weather, but was a technical one.

The breakdown is the latest in a series of problems for Eurostar, which offered compensation to more than 120,000 travellers who were unable to travel before Christmas after four trains were blocked in the tunnel because of the bad weather.

The cold weather continues to have a severe effect on travel conditions across France this morning. The snow that has hit the north and west of the country in recent days has moved to the south and east, with about 30 departments on an orange weather alert from Météo France.

Easyjet has cancelled a number of flights today - including services from Nice to London Gatwick and from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Liverpool.