Eurostar chaos has left travellers bound for the continent on the verge of tears as they told of “cancelled” New Year’s plans in Paris, “ruined” trips to Disneyland and skiing trips in jeopardy.
No high-speed services will run between Ebbsfleet International and London St Pancras International on Saturday because a tunnel under the Thames is flooded and Eurostar, which runs services from London to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, has apologised to customers for the impact on their travel plans.
A thronging London St Pancras International on Saturday morning saw crestfallen travellers sitting on suitcases in the concourse, as people could be heard frantically trying to find alternative routes to their destinations.
A man, presumed to be a taxi driver, was also seen wondering around the station clutching an iPad which said “taxi to Paris”.
Among them were newlyweds Nicole Carrera, 29, and her husband Christopher, 31, who said their plans to spend New Year’s Eve at Disneyland Paris are “ruined” due to the travel disruption.
The holidaying New Yorkers were due to catch a train from London St Pancras International to Paris on Saturday morning but it was cancelled.
They have had to rebook for a 2.30pm outbound train on Sunday, scuppering their plans to spend New Year’s Eve at the theme park and leaving them out of pocket for a non-refundable hotel booked in Paris for Saturday evening.
Ms Carrera, who works for cosmetics firm L’Oreal, told the PA news agency: “We actually got married in October and we had this trip planned before we got engaged… we planned this trip because we’ve always wanted to come to London/Paris. We were going to Paris, for like, around the holiday season because the cities are nice during the holidays and we had never been, it was on our list of places to travel and we just wanted to come visit.
“So we’ve been in London since Wednesday, and we wanted to leave today because we were actually supposed to go to Disney Paris tomorrow for New Year’s Eve.
“So obviously those plans our ruined because now we won’t get into Paris tomorrow until about 6pm. So we’re just going to walk around the city (Paris) tomorrow when we get there and finally get to our hotel. It’s just one of those things.”
Service update: trains have been cancelled today due to part of the track being temporarily closed near London. Please see https://t.co/KVn7RzwXm1 for full details and options We apologise for the impact to travel today.
Advertisement— Eurostar (@Eurostar) December 30, 2023
She added: “We go to Disney in the States all the time in Florida so we were like, we might as well go while we’re there, what a better way to celebrate New Year’s, there’s so many things to do.”
Sitting on the floor elsewhere in the international terminus were Christina David, 25, and Georgina Benyamin, 26, from Sydney, Australia.
They have been travelling in Europe for almost a month and the final stop in their trip is Paris, where they hoped to spend New Year’s Eve before flying home on January 7.
The pair told how they have “travelled Europe on a budget” before splashing out on an “expensive hotel with an Eiffel Tower view” for the final leg of their trip.
Ms David said: “We paid for an expensive hotel with an Eiffel Tower view.”
Ms Benyamin added: “We travelled Europe on a budget and then like once we hit New Year’s we’re going to go hard, watch Paris light up, I don’t think that’s going to happen… I’m going to cry.”
She said she felt “frustrated, angry, sad.”
Ms David added: “There were lots of people crying… we don’t know where to go, we have nowhere to stay.”
Ms Benyamin said their “New Year’s plans are cancelled”.
“We booked another train for tomorrow, we’re just hoping that one doesn’t get cancelled as well because otherwise we’re actually f*****, we don’t know what to do. As long as we get to Paris that’s what matters, to get our flight home,” Ms David said.
Ms Benyamin said: “Now we have to book a hotel to stay for the night here”, as Ms David added: “We’ve got nowhere to stay.”
Ana Whitton, 45, who works in communications and lives in Sydney with her fiance David Grude, said: “We’re meant to be going to Paris. We don’t really know what’s happening.
“We came to see my family for Christmas, who are based in Worcester. My partner, he’s Australian so it’s his first time here, so we thought it would be fun to go to Paris, we are meeting friends from Australia. We have got a restaurant booked for New Year, for tomorrow.
“It’s just a bit worrying because you don’t really know… it feels very uncertain, you don’t know if you are going to make it there today or maybe tomorrow.”
Simon Shaw, 36, and his wife Heather, 37, from Derbyshire, are travelling in a party of eight, comprised of their wider family and their son, eight, and daughter, five, hoping to reach the French Alps for a skiing holiday.
Mr Shaw said: “We just arrived and saw everything was cancelled this morning, got here at 7am and it was chaos so we don’t know what’s happening. We will get there one way or another.
“We have done this a couple of times, just us and the kids, and it has been really efficient, really smooth, and today we’ve brought extended family with us and it’s all gone to pot. It’s just frustrating.”
She said “these things can’t be helped” but feels “a little bit anxious on when we are going to get moving”.
