John
12-19-2009, 05:21 PM
Some 2,000 travellers were trapped in four trains for 16 hours in a "complete nightmare" ordeal.
Conditions were described as "awful" with some passengers left without light, air-conditioning, food or water.
One passenger said travellers on one carriage became so fed up they opened the emergency doors and left the train.
Lee Godfrey, who was travelling back from Disneyland Paris with his family, said: "We were without power. We ran out of water, we ran out of food and there was very very poor communication from the staff.
"We lost air-conditioning when we lost the power. We had to open the emergency doors ourselves. The evacuation procedure we followed was one that we set down ourselves.
"We have had children asleep on the floor, they have been sick. It has been a complete nightmare."
He told BBC Radio 4: "It was very scary for the children and elderly people. We had a lady in a wheelchair and a lady who was seven months pregnant and we had asthma attacks, people were fainting on the train. It was just pandemonium. People were very, very panicky."
Philippe Serna from Lincolnshire said: "We got out and walked down the tunnel only a short distance, and Kent Fire Brigade were there, and they put us on a shuttle which took us to Folkestone where we got back on another Eurostar which brought us here."
Student Jessica Taylor said her journey had been "catastrophic".
"We weren't told anything. There was no information. At one point we were told we would be getting a bus within minutes and we all stood up but three hours later we were still there. It was just horrendous," she said.
Other passengers said staff were "useless" and provided no information.
Others told Sky News travellers on one train slept on the floor of the buffet carriage.
People were stuck in France and Folkestone, while hundreds gathered at London's St Pancras terminal. A fifth train without passengers also broke down.
Friends and family waiting at St Pancras applauded when passengers arrived.
Eurostar chief executive Richard Brown said the trains failed as they left the cold air in northern France and entered the warmer air inside the tunnel.
Blaming the "unprecedented" situation of five trains failing, he said passengers would get a full refund, a free ticket and £150 as a "gesture apology".
He said a full investigation would be launched.
<span s Lynn, Suffolk and Norwich are among those left without power overnight due to heavy snow in east England.
The company said it was working to restore supplies.
More heavy snow and freezing weather is predicted for the weekend with the Big Freeze expected to last into Christmas.
Conditions were described as "awful" with some passengers left without light, air-conditioning, food or water.
One passenger said travellers on one carriage became so fed up they opened the emergency doors and left the train.
Lee Godfrey, who was travelling back from Disneyland Paris with his family, said: "We were without power. We ran out of water, we ran out of food and there was very very poor communication from the staff.
"We lost air-conditioning when we lost the power. We had to open the emergency doors ourselves. The evacuation procedure we followed was one that we set down ourselves.
"We have had children asleep on the floor, they have been sick. It has been a complete nightmare."
He told BBC Radio 4: "It was very scary for the children and elderly people. We had a lady in a wheelchair and a lady who was seven months pregnant and we had asthma attacks, people were fainting on the train. It was just pandemonium. People were very, very panicky."
Philippe Serna from Lincolnshire said: "We got out and walked down the tunnel only a short distance, and Kent Fire Brigade were there, and they put us on a shuttle which took us to Folkestone where we got back on another Eurostar which brought us here."
Student Jessica Taylor said her journey had been "catastrophic".
"We weren't told anything. There was no information. At one point we were told we would be getting a bus within minutes and we all stood up but three hours later we were still there. It was just horrendous," she said.
Other passengers said staff were "useless" and provided no information.
Others told Sky News travellers on one train slept on the floor of the buffet carriage.
People were stuck in France and Folkestone, while hundreds gathered at London's St Pancras terminal. A fifth train without passengers also broke down.
Friends and family waiting at St Pancras applauded when passengers arrived.
Eurostar chief executive Richard Brown said the trains failed as they left the cold air in northern France and entered the warmer air inside the tunnel.
Blaming the "unprecedented" situation of five trains failing, he said passengers would get a full refund, a free ticket and £150 as a "gesture apology".
He said a full investigation would be launched.
<span s Lynn, Suffolk and Norwich are among those left without power overnight due to heavy snow in east England.
The company said it was working to restore supplies.
More heavy snow and freezing weather is predicted for the weekend with the Big Freeze expected to last into Christmas.