Militant unions cause more Eurostar chaos

EUROSTAR passengers suffered continued misery yesterday as militant French trade unionists used Brexit as an excuse for industrial action.

There were cancellations and long delays on both sides of the Channel as the high-speed rail service was hit by a customs “work to rule”.

It is part of a nationwide protest by French officials, who last week caused 15-mile tailbacks around ports including Calais and Dunkirk. Eurostar was reporting delays of up two hours from Gare du Nord in Paris while the knock-on effect caused long queues and cancellations in London.

Gavin Esler, the broadcaster and Kent University Chancellor, tweeted a video of hundreds of passengers standing in line at St Pancras station as early as Sunday night.

He wrote: “Eurostar tonight – queue out of the door – anyone thinking of going on holiday after March 29... might find the same.”

He joked: “But hey, we can spend hours waiting for our flights,trains and ferries looking at our new blue passports.”

French customs are complaining that they do not have enough resources to deal with possible Brexit problems.

A spokesman for the CFDT, one of five French unions behind the action, said: “We are applying strict customs rules and reinforcing controls.” The queues were mainly caused by French customs officials interrogating all passengers.

Eurostar was braced to give payouts yesterday as customers delayed for more than an hour are entitled to compensation.

In a statement, the company said: “We are working closely with our station partners, governments and border authorities... to ensure that robust plans are in place for us to continue to operate in either a deal or no-deal scenario.”