Sunday, December 22, 2024

Hundreds of Eurostar passengers stranded over another e-gate issue

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Hundreds of Eurostar passengers have become stranded after an E-gate malfunction left them unable to process their passports.

Technical delays have held people on the French side of the UK to Europe train due to a malfunction with UK Border Force gates.

Several hundred people were waiting to catch a train across the Channel on Thursday afternoon.

Among them were children and families taking advantage of the half-term holidays.

France’s Gare du Nord station has been forced to apologise for “inconvenience caused” after informing them of an “IT problem” in an earlier email.

In a statement released this afternoon, the service said: “We are sincerely sorry for the inconvenience caused.”

Eurostar had earlier notified passengers via email about an “IT problem”, alerting them of potential delays and cancellations.

The email had told people to prepare for possible “severe delays and last-minute cancellations”.

Roughly 300 people were seen standing in the queue to get to the immigration desk, the manned passport checking station that stands in for the electronic e-gates.

One passenger told the BBC the scene was “slightly chaotic” as they called for “more information and clarity” from the service.

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