A surprise strike by French workers at Eurotunnel, the company that manages the Channel Tunnel, led to the closure of the structure, through which no trains have passed since Thursday afternoon.
This was reported by the France-Presse news agency. all Eurostar trains operating in the tunnel, as well as vehicles carrying cars and trucks, are blocked until further notice.
The strike, called by French unions, led to “the total disruption of services and the closure of our terminals in France and the United Kingdom,” Getlink, Eurotunnel’s parent company, said in a statement.
“The trade union organizations rejected the exceptional bonus of 1,000 euros announced by management at the end of this year and called a strike to demand three times the amount,” the company explains.
The announcement of the cancellation of afternoon trains to Paris, Brussels (Belgium) and Amsterdam (Netherlands) from London’s St. Pancras station took passengers by surprise, according to an AFP journalist present on the scene.
Many travelers planning to return to France or Belgium for the holidays used their phones to try to change their ticket for the next day, or to quickly book one of the still available flights from the British capital.
The station’s reception and security staff – who appeared equally surprised – also had to remove passengers who had already passed security checks and were on the platform, travelers said.
At Lille-Europe station, Nick, a 45-year-old Brit, tried to understand what was going on: “We don’t know how we’re going to get back to London today and from the email we received, it looks like there trains will no longer run during the day,” he lamented.
Source: DN
