Eurostar chaos for passengers after new UK Border Force IT failure

Simon Calder
·2-min read

The latest IT failure involving UK border force has caused “total chaos” for passengers trying to travel between Paris and London.

Eurostar says: “A technical problem is affecting the UK Border Forces e-gates at Gare du Nord, causing major delays and impacting all traffic on the London-Paris route in both directions.”

On one of the busiest days of the week, many trains have been delayed by 90 minutes or more as passengers struggle to get through passport control in the French capital.

Border formalities on Eurostar trains are “juxtaposed” with UK Border Force checking all passports in Paris before passengers can board trains.

One passenger, Karen Fletcher, told The Independent: “Total chaos at Gare du Nord. Been here three hours so far. Still in huge queue to get anywhere near check in. Advise anyone who doesn’t need to travel back tonight to leave it. Barely any staff anywhere but those who are here are excellent in very trying circumstances.”

Ms Fletcher finally boarded the 4.12pm train from Paris to London St Pancras International two-and-a-half hours after it was due to leave. It is currently running three hours behind schedule,

The cross-Channel rail firm has cancelled the last two trains of the day and is urging passengers who do not need to travel on Thursday to postpone their journeys.

Eurostar says: “We are awaiting the intervention of a technician to resolve this problem as quickly as possible and reduce the impact on our passengers but unfortunately, we had to cancel the two last trains of the day.

“For those who need it, we provide hotel accommodation or taxis at our own charge. The persons concerned are individually looked after directly by our train managers and staff at the station

“Eurostar teams are taking all measures to make sure that those who need to travel will be able to arrive in London. We are sincerely sorry for the inconvenience caused.”

Shortly after 7pm the Home Office said the issue was fixed.

Earlier this month huge queues built up at major UK airports when e-gates failed nationwide.

A spokesperson for the Home Office, which is responsible for UK Border Force, said: “This issue has now been resolved and we are working with European ports and carriers to fully restore services.

“We apologise to all passengers for the inconvenience caused.”

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