Eurostar ‘full catastrophe’ as trapped passengers left ‘with lack of air’ | UK | News | EUROtoday

Eurostar passengers have complained of being left with “no air and no bathroom” whereas trapped for over three hours on board a service between London and Brussels. Angry travellers on the prepare to St Pancras International from Brussels Midi station took to social media to vent their frustration on the hours-long delays on Sunday (July 6).

Serge de Gheldere posted on X: “En route to London with more than 2 hours [at a] standstill. No communication, no air.” He claimed “clueless” employees have been “making jokes” as a substitute of opening doorways to ventilate carriages and informing individuals about what was happening. Mr de Gheldere slammed the response as “amateur hour”, including in a later put up: “Almost [three hours]. Still no news, no air. This is not just an incident or bad luck.” The Express has approached Eurostar for remark.

In his put up, a livid Mr Gheldere added: “Eurostar is absolutely clueless and unprepared. There is no plan. Instead of opening the doors and trusting the people, they only have one or two doors open and let people almost suffocate. There’s asthma patients and infants on board. Absolutely unacceptable.”

He went on to counsel Eurostar Chief Executive Gwendoline Cazenave ought to most likely make modifications and “add a couple of adults” to her administration crew.

Fellow passenger, Santiago Theoduloz mentioned it was a whole catastrophe: “It has been 3 hours waiting inside the train with no information of what is going on, lack of air, no bathroom or electricity working.

“An entire catastrophe! Information concerning the failure and communication from the crew could be helpful!”

Eurostar apologised in responses posted online and urged passengers to stay in their seats to await further instructions from train staff.

The company said it was arranging a replacement train to collect the travellers, who were thanked for their “understanding and endurance”.

But another person, tweeting from an account named Alana, said the second train had not arrived despite assurances it would by 1.30pm. They added: “[S]everal trains going by whereas we stay trapped right here.”

The delays are the latest issue to beset Eurostar. In June, journeys between London and Paris descended into “chaos” after the theft of cable caused delays and cancellations to services which had already been disrupted by two deaths on tracks.

Eurostar warned passengers travelling from London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord to expect “extreme delays and last-minute cancellations” and advised them to “cancel or postpone their journeys” after 600 metres of copper cabling were stolen overnight near Lille.

The firm itself described what happened afterwards as “whole chaos”. Just days earlier two people were struck by trains near Lille Europe, a stop on the direct Eurostar service between St Pancras and Paris.

Severe delays to thousands of people’s journey even prompted the Foreign Office to update its advice for Brits planning to travel to and from France on the Eurostar, warning of the “extreme disruption”.