After the surprise strike which paralyzed the Channel Tunnel on Thursday, travelers tried to reach London this Friday on additional trains set up by Eurostar, or by coach.
The circulation of Eurostar high-speed trains departing from London, Paris and Brussels “is today (Friday) back to normal”, indicated the company, a subsidiary of SNCF, this Friday midday in a message to AFP . Eight trains were added between Friday and Sunday, or more than 10,000 additional seats, some of which remained to be taken Friday midday.
Alternative means of transport
“Eurostar’s aim today and over the weekend is to enable people to get home and go on holiday for Christmas,” the company said. A total of 30 trains were canceled on Thursday, leaving thousands of travelers without a solution. Some opted for the bus or the plane.
“All our buses were immediately full an hour after the announcement” of the strike, operator Blablacar told AFP. On Thursday, three coaches took ferries rather than going through the tunnel.
Marcus Haywood-Alexander, 29, was due to return to Sheffield (England) on Thursday to spend the holidays with family. He was on his way to the Gare du Nord on Thursday when his train was canceled, and switched to a bus at the Paris-Bercy bus station on Friday morning.
“There was no other train before Saturday, so I looked straight away to see if there were buses and I managed to find a ticket for today for 72 pounds” (83 euros), said told AFP the mechanical researcher, who lives in Zurich. The cancellation of his train, however, forced him to spend a night in a hotel, for 150 euros, and he hopes to obtain a refund.
Stranded in Dover
On Thursday afternoon, the Channel Tunnel was closed due to a surprise strike by French staff at Eurotunnel, the company that operates it. It was able to reopen Thursday evening, the unions arguing for “result-producing” discussions with their management.
The management of Getlink, parent company of Eurotunnel, indicated in the afternoon that the union organizations were demanding a tripling of the bonus of 1,000 euros which had been promised to them.
The Minister for Transport Clément Beaune “personally took care of the subject”, in contact with the general director of Getlink Yann Leriche and the FO union, “so that the blockage is lifted”, according to his entourage.
The great resourcefulness
Meanwhile, all trains between Paris and Brussels on one side and London on the other had been canceled at the beginning of the afternoon, causing panic among thousands of departing travelers. The company announced that it would reimburse everyone whose train was canceled.
“I’m sure I’m not even going to receive an apology email,” complained Odile Louis, a 53-year-old “personal shopper” who lives in London, having just gotten off her bus. When her Eurostar was canceled yesterday, she said she quickly fell back on a BlaBlaCar bus which “got stuck in Dover”, forcing her to “spend the night” on it. “I think I’m going to file a complaint against the company,” she said, exasperated. AFP journalists witnessed similar scenes in Lille as well as in London and Paris on Thursday afternoon.
“We had to go to Disneyland (near Paris, Editor’s note) with the children. We’re thinking of taking the ferry from Dover to Calais, but we need a car for that. It’s just too stressful. You can’t improvise a car trip with three children, you have to prepare,” enraged Sam Boyal, a British traveler who remained stranded in London.
Travelers had even less luck at the airports: Air France indicated that at this time of year all flights to London were already full or almost full.