Shock strike hits Eurotunnel and Eurostar services

Anyone planning on using the Chunnel be warned.

"Eurostar has cancelled all services to and from London until further notice after strike action hit the cross-Channel route.

A “last-minute strike” at the Channel Tunnel operator, Eurotunnel, has also hit LeShuttle services on the route.

The disruption emerged as many people start travelling for the Christmas holidays over the next few days.

Eurotunnel said it did not know how long the action would last, but was working to end it as soon as possible.

Separately, there are no trains from London Euston station on Thursday because of damaged overhead power cables between Milton Keynes and Watford Junction.

As a result, Euston station is currently closed to incoming passengers. Network Rail engineers are currently assessing the damage to the cables using drones."

“Unions called the strike at 11:00 GMT. Under French union law they can run the strike for as long as they like, and there is no indication at the moment how long it will go on for.”

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-67784709

Putting people on ferries, but given the weather those may not be running either over the next few days.

Only surprised they're not telling people travelling from France to get in a dinghy, you get free hotel and board once you hit Dover

Strike’s ended. Shuttle services restarted last night with Eurostar passenger services to due start again today.

"Eurotunnel said it had reached an agreement with trade unions and apologised for disruption to LeShuttle, which transports vehicles through the Channel Tunnel.

“Eurotunnel welcomes this agreement and reiterates its apologies to all LeShuttle customers as well as Eurostar passengers and rail freight operators whose traffic has been impacted by this strike,” Eurotunnel said in a statement.

It added it would not be selling new tickets for travel on Friday. Instead, it will focus on those who have already have tickets.

Eurostar said it would resume a normal timetable out of London, Paris and Brussels on Friday.

It will put on two extra trains each day until Christmas Day to help deal with passengers who could not travel on Thursday.

Affected customers have also been offered refunds, it added."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67784709

This is hilarious.

"French transport minister Clement Beaune tweeted: "Lifting of the blockade of the Channel Tunnel. Traffic can resume #Eurostar #Getlink

“I salute the spirit of responsibility of all those involved.”"

If they were being responsible they wouldn’t have gone on strike in the first place.

No if management had been responsible they would not have let it get that far in the first place since clearly there could not have been much in it if it could have been resolved so quickly.

Well I think for the consumer there should be a minimum notice period, like 7 days. Allowing consumers to look for alternatives in advance. Many, many people have wasted a day, missed meetings, lost opportunities due to something completely out of their control.

People affected by these strikes should be allowed to sue for actual and consequential damages. Being offered a refund is not what the consumer wants, they want to travel on schedule.