Hundreds stranded in Paris over e-gate breakdown | EUROtoday

Hundreds of Eurostar passengers are being held up at Gare du Nord in Paris.

Eurostar mentioned in an announcement {that a} technical drawback with UK Border Force e-gates had prompted the delays.

“We are sincerely sorry for the inconvenience caused,” the corporate mentioned, advising clients to delay their journeys to London if doable.

Hundreds of individuals have been ready on the station on Thursday afternoon, a lot of them households with younger youngsters on their half-term break.

The BBC’s Roopa Suchak was on the station together with her household – together with her husband, 10-year-old daughter, and her sister-in-law and her two youngsters aged six and 10.

She mentioned passengers had been warned to count on two-hour delays.

When requested to explain the scene on the station, Ms Suchak mentioned merely: “It’s mental.”

“We arrived here two hours before departure and we’ve only just been allowed to join a queue of about 300 people trying to get up to the immigration desk, so we’re nowhere near there yet.

“There are massive teams of individuals with a lot of youngsters getting back from Disney due to half time period. Everyone’s fairly pissed off, fairly drained, they usually’re not fairly certain what to do.”

Also waiting in the queue to passport control was Kesha Hancock from Hertfordshire. She was returning to London with her husband Krys and their 10-year-old daughter, Hollie.

She told the BBC that the ordeal was a less-than-ideal end to a lovely and relaxing break.

“This is the second time we’ve got been to France in two years. The final time was on the ferry and this appears like déjà vu. I am unable to assist considering that Brexit is the issue,” she mentioned.

Another person hoping to get back to London is Lizanne O’Connor from Surrey, who described the scene as “barely chaotic”.

“More info and readability can be good,” she said, adding that she was travelling with her grandparents and children who had not been offered water.

“They preserve repeating the identical info!”

Dhruti Cramer, from Ohio in the US, told the BBC that despite the stressful situation most people, including staff, were remaining calm.

“If my youngsters have been youthful, issues can be tougher!”

Eurostar mentioned: “A technical drawback is affecting the UK Border Forces e-gates at Gare du Nord, which is inflicting main delays on trains to London.

“We are awaiting the intervention of a technician to resolve this problem as quickly as possible and reduce the impact on our passengers.

“Eurostar groups are taking all measures to be sure that those that have to journey will be capable to arrive in London.

“We advise those who can, to postpone their journey. We are offering affected customers exchanges free of charge or a full refund of their journey.

“We are sincerely sorry for the inconvenience prompted.”