Eurostar passengers hoping to catch the start of the Paris Olympics have continued to face difficulties after an arson attack in France caused train cancellations.
People travelling by Eurostar from London to Paris on Friday were asked to postpone trips if possible after the rail operator cancelled one in four trains over the weekend as a result of arson attacks that lead to widespread disruption to France’s high-speed rail network hours before the start of the Olympics.
On Saturday Eurostar cancelled four of the 15 trains scheduled to travel from London to Paris, affecting more than 3,000 passengers, and the operator also warned of delays. It was encouraging affected passengers to “postpone their trip if possible”. There were no remaining seats for services on Saturday.
Prices for buses to the French capital have soared, with seats from London to Paris selling for as much as £200. All Flixbus and National Express services on the route for Saturday have been booked. The next coach with availability leaves London at 2am on Sunday. Anyone hoping to catch the Flixbus service will need to pay £198 for a seat.
On Saturday morning, passengers at St Pancras station were desperately trying to get alternative tickets to the French capital. One worried Parisian mother said the cancellation of Friday’s 4.31pm train meant her 12-year-old daughter was waiting alone in a cafe in Paris after a plan to pick her up on Saturday morning fell through.
Zissia Patel, 46, a university administrator who has been visiting family in London, said: “My daughter is alone in a cafe in Paris so I want to be with her. She’s only 12.”
She said she had been told she could not rebook a different train online and had to come in to St Pancras instead. “I’m just trying to keep calm. My child is alone in a cafe,” she said.
Olivia Atwell was in tears as she waited behind Patel in the slow-moving Eurostar queue. The 26-year-old Australian said she had not slept since getting on a 5.40am flight from Sydney to London on Friday to watch her cousin Amy compete in the women’s basketball at the Olympics. Atwell, an accountant from Sydney, said: “I’ve not slept. If I don’t get a train I’ll get a flight to Paris.”
People also shared their travel woes on social media. Jeremy Bourton wrote on X that he could lose up to £4,000 after his Eurostar train was cancelled. Tagging the Eurostar account, he said: “Can I please get confirmation that you will pay compensation for our accommodation, Olympic events? Totalling around £3,500/£4,000 in total.”
The comedian Matt Green said he had been “looking forward to going to the Olympics for years” and booked Eurostar tickets from London to Paris as soon as the French capital was announced as the competition’s 2024 host city.
He wrote on X that both of his trains had been cancelled. “Looks like I won’t be going to the Olympics,” he wrote. “Pretty upset that a thing I’ve been planning to do for literally years has just fallen apart.”
Despite the disruption, travellers had kind words for Eurostar staff dealing with the chaos. Michelle Macleod had been hit with a five-hour delay. “Well that idea to take Eurostar to Paris instead of flying to avoid chaos didn’t really work,” she said. She was eventually placed on a later service. She wrote on X. “[Eurostar] staff were brilliant at St Pancras and on the train – in very difficult circumstances!”