Eurotunnel chaos leaves family £3,000 out of pocket in desperate bid to get home

22 December 2023 , 10:45

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Jack Cormack-Neto and his family were stranded in paris (Image: Supplied)

A family have been left £3,000 out of pocket and stranded in France due to travel chaos following strikes by Eurotunnel workers.

Jack Cormack-Neto and his family were among the thousands of unhappy customers swept up in chaotic scenes in Paris and London yesterday, when wildcat industrial action shut the Channel Tunnel down and saw 30 Eurostar trains cancelled at the last minute.

Having travelled back the 11,000 miles from their new home in New Zealand for the festive period, the Cormack-Neto family found themselves "dumped in Paris" with "no help with accommodation, food or anything".

Jack told the Mirror on Thursday evening: "No flights are available tonight, tomorrow they're extremely expensive. Eurostar is booked until Sunday and I assume they won’t put on extra trains, coaches are booked and you can’t take a rental car. It’s pretty hard to find an option for all five of us."

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Massive queues this morning at the Eurostar at St Pancras (Jeremy Selwyn)

"We tried to talk to Eurostar and explained the situation including that my younger sister is disabled with extremely low vision but they seemed more keen to get rid of us. Eurostar just said they 'invite us to defer our trip' and that was it."

After much frantic research, the family booked themselves onto a flight from Paris to London Gatwick via Barcelona, which cost £3,000 as they could only bag last-minute business class flights.

The Cormack-Netos are far from the only ones impacted by the strikes, which were called off after several hours yesterday evening.

Frenchman Thibault feared that the cancellations would have a knock-on effect over the coming days, leaving him away from his love over the festive period. He told the Mirror: "From my perspective I think that no Eurostar trains will be able to travel until to December 26 due to this strike. My girlfriend, who is French just like me, is going to have to stay in England for Christmas because it was the only way that she could have come back to France for the holidays. It was supposed to be our first Christmas together.

"At the moment she does not know what she will be doing, but one thing is sure. Except for a miracle, she is not going to be here for Christmas."

Enormous queues built up at London St Pancras and Gare du Nord yesterday after the Tunnel was shut down. Unions called the strike at 11am before ending it in the evening. Under French union law, they could have continued striking for as long as they wanted.

They were objecting to a discretionary bonus of €1,000 (£867), which was three times less than the amount they had asked for. The inter-union had mentioned in a press release "the terrible deterioration of the social climate", BFM TV reported.

Eurotunnel said it had reached an agreement with trade unions and apologised for disruption to LeShuttle, which transports vehicles through the Channel Tunnel. The rail company will put on two extra trains each day until Christmas Day to help deal with passengers who could not travel on Thursday.

A spokesperson for Eurostar said: "Eurostar has been informed that the last-minute strike by Eurotunnel staff has ended this evening. Train traffic resumed 22 December, with a normal timetable out of London, Paris and Brussels.

"To help support our customers who could not travel because of the Eurotunnel strike, Eurostar will run 6 extra trains between Paris and London: 2 on Friday 22 Dec, 2 on Saturday 23 Dec, and 2 on Sunday. Customers who have been affected today have received direct communication about their journey and had the option to exchange their tickets free of charge or claim a refund.

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"Although the situation was out of Eurostar’s control, all our teams have worked to minimise the impact on our customers and provide as much support as possible. Extra staff have also been in stations to assist travellers.

"Due to a last-minute strike by Eurotunnel staff, no Channel Tunnel crossings have taken place since 21 December, midday. Unfortunately, this means 30 Eurostar trains were cancelled out of London, Paris or Brussels on 21 December."

Milo Boyd