Eurostar cancelled their high-speed trains to Paris from London for three more days today as industrial action by French customs officials reaches its third week.
Passengers should only use high-speed trains from Paris to London 'if absolutely necessary' due to delays of up to five hours caused by industrial action.
Trade unionists have used the threat of Brexit to campaign for better pay and conditions and it is unknown how long a 'work to rule' strategy might last.
Travellers queue at the Eurostar terminal in London's St Pancras last week as militant French trade unionists use Brexit as an excuse for industrial action
This morning services from Paris are delayed for 45 minutes to an hour, according to a Eurostar spokesman.
The spokesman said: 'French customs officers at Paris Gare du Nord continue to take part in industrial action.
'As a result, the regular pre-departure security checks are taking longer than usual and this is causing delays on departure in Paris.
'We are very sorry for the inconvenience this is causing passengers, and to provide as much flexibility as possible we are offering a free exchange or refund to any passenger who would prefer to postpone their trip.'
It is part of a nationwide protest by French officials, who caused disruption at stations including the Gare Du Nord in Paris (left) and 15-mile tailbacks around ports including Dover (right)
Long queues built up at the Gare du Nord, the company’s hub in the French capital, as passengers waited for up to five hours to get through customs checks.
There were cancellations in London too, with the 7.31 service from London St Pancras to Paris scrapped first thing this morning.
Gavin Esler, the broadcaster and Kent University Chancellor, tweeted a video of hundreds of passengers standing in line at St Pancras International station as early as Sunday night last week.
He wrote: ‘Eurostar tonight - queue out of the door- anyone thinking of going on holiday after March 29 [and assuming the Brexit ‘sunlit uplands’ continue] might find the same.
‘But hey, we can spend hours waiting for our flights, trains and ferries looking at our new blue passports.’
Questions passengers are asked include: ‘Where do you live?’ and ‘What do you do for a living?’ – the kind that nobody is usually asked once their bags have cleared.’
One passenger – identified only as Jonathan on his Twitter account – wrote: ‘Dangerous situation created at Gare du Nordis because customs have shut down 5 of 6 baggage scanners.
‘Eurostar says customs “in their right” to “express concerns” over Brexit! Eurostar connives in grotesque treatment of passengers, exposing them to serious security risks.’
He wrote in another tweet: ‘It seems not to have occurred to the geniuses at Eurostar that the situation at Gare du Nordis actually dangerous.
‘As well as highly uncomfortable, stressful and miserable for customers who pay a fortune. A shameful performance by Eurostar, famous for being awful.’
The UNSA union last week refused to give an end date for the action, with a spokesman telling The Local that it 'might last a long time because officers are just doing their jobs'.
Eurostar has been paying out thousands in compensation since the French action started at the beginning of the month.
Last week five French unions representing 17,000 customs officials rejected a pay boost worth more than £12m a year, saying they wanted far more to deal with the extra workload caused by Brexit.
Britain is officially meant to leave the EU on March 29, and the French customs are complaining that they do not have enough resources to deal with possible problems.
This is why they have launched their industrial action calling for more money and resources.
A spokesman for the CFDT, one of five French unions behind the problems, said: ‘We are applying strict customs rules and reinforcing controls.’
The queues were mainly caused by uniformed French customs officials at the Gare du Nord interrogating all passengers once their luggage had passed through X-ray machines.
In turn, passengers have accused the French of acting with brutal cynicism, as they already deal with thousands of non-EU passport holders every day.
Camille Hulot, 19, was reduced to floods of tears by three uniformed customs men at the Gare du Nord last week as she travelled back to her classes in England.
She was forced to wait in line for three-and-a-half hours, and then told she might have to queue again as ‘punishment for being impolite’.
Ms Hulot said: ‘All they wanted to do was hold people up so that their journeys were disrupted, while dishonestly using Brexit as an excuse. It is an absolute scandal.’
A spokesman for the Douane, the French customs, confirmed that staff were ‘reinforcing controls’.
Travellers have been held up all over northern France during the custom’s work to rule, including at ports such as Calais, where lorries have been caught up in 15 miles tailbacks.
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2019/03/18/eurostar-travel-chaos-enters-a-third-week-as-british-passengers-are-told-not-to-travel-to-paris/
Main photo article Eurostar cancelled their high-speed trains to Paris from London for three more days today as industrial action by French customs officials reaches its third week.
Passengers should only use high-speed trains from Paris to London ‘if absolutely necessary’ due to delays of up to five...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves Online news HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/03/11/10/10830872-6794595-image-m-32_1552300886349.jpg
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