A few days before Christmas and as vacation departures begin, a surprise strike by Eurotunnel employees led to the closure of the Channel Tunnel and created panic in several European stations.
The sudden announcement of the cancellation of all trains to the continent at St Pancras station in London early Thursday afternoon caused panic among all passengers waiting for their train.
According to an AFP journalist present on site, the reception and security agents at the station – who seemed just as caught off guard – even had to remove passengers who had already passed security checks and were waiting on the dock.
It was a surprise strike by French employees of Eurotunnel, a subsidiary of the Getlink group, which caused the closure of the tunnel on Thursday at midday. The social movement led to “the complete interruption of service and the closure of our terminals in France and the United Kingdom,” Getlink said in a press release.
Result: no more Eurostar can use the structure and the shuttles carrying cars and trucks are also blocked.
“This strong mobilization is not a surprise,” declared the inter-union association, bringing together the six Eurotunnel unions (FO, CGT, Sud-Rail, CFE-CGC, CFDT and SACDC), in a press release.
“For several months, all union organizations combined have alerted general management to the terrible deterioration of the social climate,” she writes. She indicated that she would be received by management on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.
Unacceptable
“The blocking of the Channel Tunnel is unacceptable. A solution must be found immediately,” demanded the French Minister for Transport Clément Beaune on the social network X.
“I call on everyone to take responsibility to ensure traffic and vacation departures in good conditions,” he continued.
According to management, the unions are demanding a tripling of the bonus of 1000 euros which was promised to them.
As soon as the cancellation of the trains was announced, the many travelers who were planning to return to France or Belgium for the holidays from London rushed to their phones to try to change their ticket for the next day, or to book in a hurry. one of the flights still available from the British capital.
“We had to go to Disneyland [près de Paris] with the children. We’re thinking of taking the ferry from Dover to Calais, but we need a car for that. It’s just too stressful. You cannot improvise a car trip with three children, you have to prepare,” enraged Sam Boyal, a British traveler who remained at the dock.
At the Gare du Nord in Paris, Eurostar employees announced on a megaphone that all trains for the rest of the day were canceled.
“I had made my passport on purpose,” confided Catherine, 80, visibly disappointed and upset because she was unable to join her son in London.
Wrong information
As in London, travelers had their eyes glued to their smartphones to find alternative routes.
Ed Basham, a 31-year-old British man who came to visit his girlfriend in Paris, shared his anger: “I’m going to have to sleep at friends’ houses this evening while waiting to find a solution.”
The Lille-Europe station was much quieter. Santiago Rodriguez, a Mexican on vacation with his family in Europe, was preparing to find another solution to reach London. “Now we are going to Brussels. It’s horrible to ruin our plans like that,” he told an AFP journalist.
The situation was all the more confusing as messages in English suggested a resumption of traffic around 4:00 p.m.
In Calais, at the entrance to the French terminal where cars and trucks board trains to reach Folkestone on the other side of the strait, long lines of vehicles, more than a kilometer long, were beginning to form.