The Paris birthdays, getaways and hen dos thrown into chaos by Eurostar bomb delays

Yahoo

07-03-2025

Eurostar has cancelled all of Friday's services between London and Paris after the discovery of an unexploded Second World War bomb near tracks in the French capital.
Thousands of passengers have been disrupted by the Eurostar delays: the cross-Channel operator had been scheduled to run 32 trains in both directions throughout the day.
As a result, disgruntled passengers today told Yahoo UK how their weekend getaways, birthday celebrations and hen dos have been thrown into disarray... though some passengers were able to make alternative plans in a nearby Wetherspoons.
Here is what some of the stranded passengers at St Pancras station in London had to say.
Charlotte Liddell, a bride-to-be, was on the way to her own hen party when her group discovered the cancellations.
Others in the party are already in Paris, having flown from northern England.
Liddell, from London, will now fly from Leeds Bradford Airport and they hope to be in Paris this evening.
'It's the hen do without the hen!' she said. "We're very upset, but it's so out of our control.'
Read more: How to claim compensation if Eurostar is delayed or cancelled
Charlotte Kidd had travelled to London from Bath on Thursday, ahead of her Friday morning booking to get to Disneyland Paris.
It was for her 30th birthday weekend, and while disappointed at the cancellations, she said she was still hopeful of getting there in time.
"If not, we'll try and get there some other way.'
Serena Beck had been travelling with 13 friends to Paris for her hen do, but their plans were dashed by the cancellation of their 8.01am train.
The 29-year-old, who's getting married next month, now hopes to get a minibus to Paris from Lille, where the party managed to change its tickets to... though it will set them back.
"It could cost us £1,500 to get from Lille to Paris in a minibus," she said.
They hope to get to Paris by 9pm, and the bridal party refused to let the disruption dampen its spirits.
One member said: 'It's not ideal, but we're staying very positive. We've been spending most of the afternoon in Wetherspoons.'
Carla Arndt, 21, had travelled from Germany to visit her sister in Cambridge with her mother Anke Janssen, 56.
They opted to take the train instead of flying for environmental reasons, but were left stranded in London with hundreds of other passengers.
'We were meant to get the Eurostar to Paris at 11.31am,' Arndt said. 'The plan was to get another train back to Germany, but probably we will fly to Frankfurt now.
'It's a bit of a sour end to our holiday. It's also my first time taking the Eurostar.
'We took the train for environmental reasons and it doesn't take too long from Paris. But now we have to fly, so how did that turn out?'
Friends Becky Ingram, 41, and Laura Crabb, 34, had travelled by bus to London from Wales, ready for their "jolly" across the channel in Paris.
Ingram said: "We have a hotel booked, we were going to go to Moulin Rouge… now we don't even know where we are going to stay tonight.
'They say we might be able to get a train tomorrow, but we don't know what we're going to do tonight.
'We were only in Paris until Monday, so this has wasted a whole day. And now Eurostar's system has crashed.'
Crabb added: "I've been on the Eurostar to Paris before. We were delayed by a bomb scare that time as well, in 2017.
'I got the bus from Newport at 7am… this puts me off getting the train, or trains in general.'
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Watch: Eurostar halts London-Paris trains for rest of day after unexploded bomb found