Museums in Lille open for free for one spring night, offering a chance to see the city’s finest collections from dusk until 1am. The Nuits des Musées initiative opens up museums across France to a background of debate and workshops.

Over 2,500 museums of art, ethnography, history or science in forty European countries, will participate during May in the sixth edition of “The Long Night of Museums”. Exhibitions, theater, cinema, dance and performing arts: the arts invite themselves to the museum during this festive and unusual event that has touched audiences of all types are familiar or not museums.

Participating museums are announced in the run-up to the day, but with dramatized term, temporary installations, special tours, concerts, readings, storytelling and other events there will be something that will appeal to all audiences.

Nuit des Musées is free for everyone and is this year taking place on the 15th May from 7pm till 1am.

Photo Mur des Squelettes: Vue Exteriure de Nuit by Museumde Toulouse

The BOZAR welcomes the second year of the Brussels Electronic Music Festival. Over 30 DJs, musicians and VJs perform throughout the venue over the last weekend in March. Expect famous figures spinning alongside newcomers, performances taking place in various rooms and halls and many surprises in tow including;

Cluster, Chris De Luca, Hexstatic, Johann Johannsson, Border Community showcase: James Holden, Luke Abbott, Avus, VJ Dan – Raster Noton showcase: Aoki Takamasa, Cyclo (Ryoji Ikeda & Carsten Nicolai), Atom TM – Sylvain Chauveau, Machinefabriek, Thomas Brinkmann, D * Fuse, Aufgang, Quenum, Sierra Sam, Dan Curtin, DARKO, Fader, Fady One, Marcus Vector, Rodriguez Jr., Playboy’s Bend, SEI A Monsieur Magnetik, Fonsny Mathieu, Christophe Bailleau, The activists, Odaka, Cedric Stevens, Natalia de Mello….

Check out the video (in French) from the 2009 Brussels Electronic film festival for an idea of what to expect:

BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts 26 – 28 Mar 2010. Fri 8pm-6am; Sat 8pm-7am; Sun 7pm-2am

Everybody loves Camembert and all the quirky French cheeses, but French rock, like English wine, has not always travelled so well. John Lennon may not have been the first person to say ‘French rock tastes like English wine’, but we’re damn sure he should be the last.

Why? Because Favela Chic Paris, DJ-host Gringo da Parada (aka the ‘Monsieur Loyal’ Jean-Pierre Croissant), the bureauexport of The French Institute, and Eurostar have teamed up to present the finest new French rockers here in the heart of London.

Vive la France aims to show the Brits what the new knights (and doughty damsels) of French music have got in their pants!

Favela Chic’s club space in Great Eastern Street provides an intimate, fabulously-freestyle backdrop for raw and raucous rock, atmospheric electro and punk-pop which is, well, anything but intimate.

The crazily-brilliant pianist, Mattias Mimoun, who’s resident at Le Baron and plays at all the stylish soirées in Paris, warms things up each month with his inventive covers of classic tracks (from ‘Billie Jean’ to ‘Da Funk’ by Daft Punk and Justice’s ‘Phantom’).

Each month at Vive la France there’ll be a famous and talented guest artist joining him from the beautiful country of Camembert, la belle Franc

In Belgium it’s sometimes said that the Bells of Rome bring the Easter Eggs. The story goes that the bells of every church leave for Rome on “Silent Saturday” or “Stille Zaterdag” in Dutch, before returning on Sunday with eggs… chocolate eggs hopefully. And what better place to find delicious chocolate eggs than the home to so many chocolate shops, Brussels?

Easter Sunday in Brussels sees egg hunts in Bruparck next to the Atomium and, just outside the city, in Les Pays des Castors, an animal park dedicated to beavers. Although remember to bring your boots if you want to hunt for eggs among these dentally endowed dam builders.

While in Brussels you’ll find the fifth largest church in the world in the city’s Basilique National du Sacre-Coeur where you can attend Easter Church services.

Why not make the most of the bank holiday weekend and explore a different city this Easter.

Photo 1 Wild daffodils up close by Amanda bh Slater

Photo 2 Basilique de Koekelberg by TP Holland

Hikers of all ages come out for the annual Randonnée Paris du Printemps walks. Setting out from the Gymnase Henry de Montherlant, walkers opt to complete one of two circuits of varying lengths, each taking in the beautiful Bois de Boulogne.

A 10km hike takes in the Bois’ waterfalls and is a perfect excuse to catch the park as its colourful spring blooms burst forth. After 10km, walkers can opt to hike a further 10km on the second circuit, taking in the modern office blocks of La Défense while uncovering some surprisingly green corners hidden amid the concrete jungle.

The walk is taking place on the 14th March 2010, making it an ideal option day out for Mothers’ Day.

For details, visit the organiser’s website (Godillot Familial Association). The show goes on, come rain or shine!

Photo A Bunch of Tulips by Bcmom

Everybody in the UK is aware its been pretty diabolical weather, people have been struggling to commute into London and there’s been lots of problems in the airports etc But the good news is that we have been running services today albeit it has been restricted and you’re probably already aware today that one of our services got stuck in the channel tunnel.

The good news is that we had the train towed out and the passengers were transferred onto a service at Ashford and they arrived in London only with a  3 hour delay. We made sure there was special catering so that when the passengers arrived in Ashford we had catering, coffee, sandwiches and that the train they were transferred to had extra catering there as well. On arrival at St Pancras we had taxis already pre-arranged so that they could jump off the train and get home as soon as possible.

What are Eurostar doing to ensure this doesn’t happen again?
As everybody is aware the weather conditions are acute and what we are doing is making sure that every train but it goes into the channel tunnel has a technician on board and we’re making sure as the train travel across either France or the UK through the very cold snow conditions that they are being double check before they enter into the channel tunnel.

Over the next few days how will services be affected?
We are running what we call a restricted timetable, which means that the very early morning trains so for example the Paris service that leaves at 5.25 in the morning wont run also the very late evening trains are also not going to run. So we’re running a timetable broadly between 6 o’clock and 7 in the evening.

Do you know the cause of the problems on todays (7th Jan) train?
For the train that was stuck for a short period of time in the tunnel today (07.01.10), we’re not exactly sure of the cause of that particular delay. Our engineers are working on the train at the moment to provide feedback of exactly what happened.

What do Eurostar feel they have learnt from the disruptions?
We have learnt a number of lessons. Number one, communication, communication, communication, so the website is updated in real time every time we make a decision.  We’re also updating all the various social media sites as well as other media so information is accurate and up to date.

We’ve made sure we have extra staff in the terminals and we’ve provided extra catering and facilities if the trains are disrupted. The other key thing is that we’re doing a huge amount of work in the background for people that we let down very badly before Christmas. We’ve tripled the team of people that handle complaints and claims so we’re working away at a huge rate of knots and making sure that people who want to receive refunds on tickets that this is being down as quickly as we possibly can.

Due to the current severe weather conditions Eurostar will continue to run a restricted service up to and including this Sunday.  If you do not need to travel we would suggest that you cancel or postpone your trip which can be done any time in the next two months.

To avoid operating in the coldest part of the day we will not run our very early morning and late evening services.

The first trains on Friday will be:

London to Paris departing 06:02

London to Brussels departing 07:30

Brussels to London departing 06:59

Paris to London departing 07:13

The last trains on Thursday and Friday will be:

London to Brussels train 9154 departing 18:35

London to Paris train 9050 departing 19:02

Brussels to London train 9153 departing 17:59

Paris to London train 9055 departing 19:13

If you have a ticket for a late evening train you should come to the station as early as possible and will be allocated a space on an earlier departure. Everyone else should check in as normal. Ski and Disney services will both be running.

We still may have additional cancellations or delays and would therefore ask you to keep a close eye on www.eurostar.com and our Facebook and Twitter feeds for additional information,

We will be able to update you in detail on the weekend’s services later tomorrow

Eurostar update Thursday 1:40pm GMT

Because of the current bad weather conditions across northern Europe Eurostar will be running a restricted service over the next few days.

In particular, the last trains today Thursday will be running earlier than usual. Last departures are: London to Brussels 18:35, London to Paris 19:02, Brussels to London 17:59, Paris to London 19:13.

If you do not need to travel we recommend you cancel or postpone your trip.
If you need to travel you should still check-in 45 minutes before the departure time shown on your ticket or 60 minutes before the latest departure, whichever is earlier. Please note availability on the final trains of the day will be severely limited.

We are very sorry for any inconvenience this may cause and again would like to stress that our customers’ comfort remains our priority in every decision we are making.

Please refer to eurostar.com for details of our compensation policy.

Eurostar update for Thursday 7 January 12:40 am GMT

We have been successfully running services this morning and intend to continue running an albeit restricted service for the rest of the day. The passengers delayed in the tunnel were transferred to another train loaded with refreshments and will be arriving at St Pancras International, to a welcoming committee offering them assistance with their onboard journeys.

The other trains that had been waiting on the tracks have been sent back to their originating stations as we were concerned that the trains had been waiting in the cold for some time and some passengers had decided to postpone their journeys. Everyone wishing to continue with their journeys will be be put on the next available service. Please know that our priority is our customers’ comfort and we are doing everything we can to support their travel requirements.

Eurostar update for Thursday 7 January 10:00 am GMT

Because of the current bad weather conditions across northern Europe Eurostar will be running a restricted service over the next few days. If you need to travel you should still check-in 30 minutes before the departure time shown on your ticket, however your service may be subject to cancellation or delay.

If you do not need to travel we recommend you cancel or postpone your trip to a later date. Your ticket can be exchanged or refunded for free through your original point of purchase at any time in the next two months.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. Please continue to check www.eurostar.com for further updates.

If you were affected by the disruption to our services before Christmas, please visit www.eurostar.com for details of our compensation policy.

We are now running a normal service and we recommend that you check-in at least 30 minutes before the departure time shown on your ticket. We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to passengers caught up in the disruptions before Christmas. We really appreciate your patience and understanding during this difficult period.

14.00 (GMT) UPDATE ON EUROSTAR SERVICES ON THURSDAY 24 DECEMBER 2009

Eurostar is operating services throughout Thursday 24 December to a modified timetable.

Anyone holding a ticket for Saturday 19 to Thursday 24 December will be able to travel today and should arrive at our terminals no later than the following times: London to Paris or Brussels, 16:00 GMT. Paris or Brussels to London, 17:00 CET. We will allocate seating on the next available train.

Starting 26 December, we are planning to run a near normal service and we recommend that you check-in at least 30 minutes before the departure time shown on your ticket.
We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to passengers caught up in the disruptions of the last few days. We really appreciate your patience and understanding during this difficult period

Ski services will run as normal but please check Eurostar.com FAQ’s later this evening for further updates and information.

Disney services will run as normal with the exception of Saturday 26 inbound service from Disney. Passengers are advised to connect with Eurostar at Paris Gare du Nord via a domestic service. (Passengers are advised this is not covered by Eurostar)

19:00 (GMT) UPDATE TO EUROSTAR SERVICES FOR THURSDAY 24 DECEMBER 2009

Eurostar will operate services throughout Thursday 24 December to a modified timetable.

We are advising customers holding tickets for travel on Thursday 24 December to arrive at the station an hour before their original departure time. This will enable Eurostar to allocate seating on the trains. This will also minimise queuing for our travellers.

We will also ensure that anyone holding tickets for any day between Saturday 19 December and Wednesday 23 December will also be able to travel.

We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to passengers.

16:00 (GMT) UPDATE TO EUROSTAR SERVICES FOR WEDNESDAY 23 AND THURSDAY 24 DECEMBER 2009

Eurostar is running services throughout the day today and there is now limited availability remaining for London to Paris services today. London to Brussels services are near full capacity.

Eurostar will continue to operate services throughout Thursday 24 December to a modified timetable.

We are advising customers with tickets to travel tomorrow to arrive at the station an hour before their original departure time. This will enable Eurostar to allocate seating on the trains. This will also minimise queuing for our travellers.

We will also ensure that anyone holding tickets for any day between Saturday 19 December and Wednesday 23 December will also be able to travel.

We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to passengers and will continue to provide regular updates.

15:30 (GMT) UPDATE TO EUROSTAR SERVICES FOR WEDNESDAY 23 AND THURSDAY 24 DECEMBER 2009

Eurostar is running services throughout the day today but now advises travellers not to come to St Pancras International today as all of the available seats for travel today have now been allocated

Eurostar will continue to operate services throughout Thursday 24 December to a modified timetable.

We are advising customers with tickets to travel tomorrow to arrive at the station an hour before their original departure time. This will enable Eurostar to allocate seating on the trains. This will also minimise queuing for our travellers.

We will also ensure that anyone holding tickets for any day between Saturday 19 December and Wednesday 23 December will also be able to travel.

We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to passengers and will continue to provide regular updates.

12.50 (GMT) UPDATE ON EUROSTAR SERVICES ON WEDNESDAY 23 DECEMBER 2009

Eurostar is running services throughout the day today but now advises travellers not to come to St Pancras International this afternoon as all of the available seats for travel today have now been allocated.

We will be running services tomorrow and we are confident that there will be sufficient seats for everyone who wants to travel before Christmas.

We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to passengers and will continue to provide regular updates.

UPDATE ON EUROSTAR SERVICES 10.30 am WEDNESDAY 23rd DECEMBER 2009

Eurostar is running services throughout the day today. Passengers who are planning to travel from St Pancras International today are now advised not to come to the station until after 1pm as the trains are full until that time.

We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to passengers and will provide a regular update in due course.

UPDATE ON EUROSTAR SERVICES AT 18.00 ON TUESDAY 22 DECEMBER 2009

Update on Eurostar services for Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 December 2009
The procedures that were put in place to prioritise passengers have worked well and in the course of today the backlog of passengers from the weekend has been cleared.

Eurostar will continue to operate a restricted service on Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 December.  Trains will be running throughout the day.

Customers with tickets for travel between Saturday 19 and Thursday 24 December can come to the terminal on either Wednesday or Thursday and we will do our best to allocate a seat on the next available train.

THIS APPLIES TO ALL PASSENGERS IN FRANCE, UK & BELGIUM

The timetable for the services running on the 23rd can before here on www.eurostar.com http://bit.ly/7kF4Jp

As we cannot predict the levels of demand for each service we cannot guarantee that you will be able to board your chosen service.

Please leave plenty of time to arrive at the station before your train departs as there may be long queues.

UPDATE ON EUROSTAR SERVICES AT 12:30 ON TUESDAY 22 DECEMBER 2009

Eurostar continues to run a restricted service today. The procedures that we put in place to prioritise passengers are working well, with stations steadily managing the backlog of passengers.

While we continue to give priority today to customers holding tickets for travel on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 December, in London and Paris we are now accommodating customers who hold a ticket for travel on Monday 21 December.

As this is a restricted service, we recommend that passengers who are eligible for travel today should present themselves at station check-in desks no later than 15:00 (local time).

We are monitoring the situation and continue to advise customers whose journeys are not essential not to travel and to change their tickets for travel on a later date or have their tickets refunded.

FROM EUROSTAR PRESS OFFICE:

UPDATE ON EUROSTAR SERVICES ON TUESDAY 22 DECEMBER 2009

Eurostar will be resuming a restricted service from Tuesday 22 December. Trains will depart from 07.30 to 18.00.

YOU WILL ONLY BE ELIGIBLE FOR TRAVEL ON TUESDAY 22ND DECEMBER IF YOU HOLD A TICKET THAT WAS ORIGINALLY FOR TRAVEL ON SATURDAY 19TH OR SUNDAY 20TH DECEMBER. Please do not go to a Eurostar terminal on Tuesday if this does not apply to you.

Bookings for specific trains will no longer be valid on Tuesday, and seats cannot be booked in advance. Trains will be leaving throughout the day and upon arrival at the station, you will be allocated a seat on the next available train. Additionally, we will reserve a proportionate number of seats for travellers from each of our intermediate stations of Lille, Calais, Ashford and Ebbsfleet.

We will also attempt to give priority to passengers with special needs, such as the elderly and those with young children. If this applies to you, please make yourself known to a member of staff.

If you hold a ticket for Monday 21st or Tuesday 22nd, you will be eligible for travel on Wednesday 23rd. If you hold a ticket for Wednesday 23rd or Thursday 24th, you will be eligible for travel on Thursday 24th.

We continue to strongly advise customers whose journeys are not essential not to travel, and to change their tickets for travel on a later date or have their tickets refunded.

Customers are advised not to attempt to travel independently via the channel ports or the Channel Tunnel unless they have confirmed bookings.

Click here for more information…

What is your advice to travellers?

The strong advice we are giving is: if it is not essential to travel over the Christmas holiday, please either refund your ticket at no cost or you can exchange your ticket in the next two months to travel at a later date.

For those customers wanting to travel please look at eurostar.com which has the latest information.

As of today we have run two test trains, we hope this evening to announce the resumption of service. Clearly our number one priority is to get the maximum number of people back to London, Paris, or Brussels so that people can be with their loved ones and families for Christmas.

How should people exchange their tickets?

We’re allowing exchanges to take place for up to two months, so there’s absolutely no need to do that before Christmas, you can exchange any time in the next two months. If you look on Eurostar.com it tells you how to do that, please do that at your leisure.
What compensation are you offering?

For anyone who is not able to travel at the moment, we are refunding all reasonable expenses, so things like, for example, hotel accommodation, taxis, phone calls home. If you look at Eurostar.com there’s a section on there about our compensation policy that explains what’s on offer. I do want to apologise to the people that have been so disrupted by this cessation of service.

Can you let us know what happened? Will there be an enquiry?

Just to put it in a bit of context, on Friday night five trains got stuck in the channel tunnel. That’s the first time that has happened in Eurostar’s history, and we’ve run something like 250,000 trains in the last 15 years.

What’s become very clear to us is that, whilst safety was never compromised- which was always the number one priority – the feedback we’ve had from customers who experienced the evacuation of trains in the tunnel, is that it was really far, far from satisfactory.

So, the Eurostar board took the decision yesterday to instigate an independent enquiry. We’ve asked Chris Garnett who’s the ex Chief Executive of GNER and a former Commercial Director of Eurotunnel, and Claude Gressier, Inspecteur Général des Ponts et Chaussées in France, to manage this independent enquiry on behalf, really to get to the absolute bottom of what went wrong. So they will be interviewing staff, customers on trains, and obviously going through the procedures that Eurotunnel operates within the tunnel, and how communication took place between Eurostar and Eurotunnel.

So we are definitely listening to all the feedback we are getting from customers, we have staff in all the terminals, we have a regular feedback mechanism there, we have management volunteering in each of the terminals, and we’re also looking at everything that’s coming through the web and social media to make sure we are getting direct feedback and understanding how people are feeling at all times.

Please find details of Eurostar’s compensation policy here.

LATEST NEWS: EUROSTAR UPDATE Monday 15:30

Eurostar has been conducting a series of test-runs to ensure that the modifications that it has been making to its trains are working effectively.

The test-runs that have been conducted this morning have worked well and if the later test runs are similarly successful, we will be resuming a limited service tomorrow.

We continue to strongly advise customers whose journeys are not essential not to travel, and to change their tickets for travel on a later date or have their tickets refunded.

Please continue to check this website for updated information as we will provide a further update as soon as possible.

PLEASE NOTE:

EUROSTAR WILL NOT BE OPERATING SERVICES TODAY, MONDAY 21 DECEMBER 2009

We sincerely regret to announce that we will not be operating services on today in light of forecasts of further snowfall in northern France.

We have been carrying out test runs as of yesterday and as a result of these tests we now understand the cause of the disruption over the weekend and have identified the modifications that are required.

As we suspected, the acute weather conditions in northern France have caused the disruption.  Every year we carry out a ‘winterisation’ programme of the entire fleet which to date has successfully protected our trains.  We now know, however, that we need to further enhance the snow screens and snow shields in the power cars of the trains.

We have already started making the modifications and to ensure that these new protection measures work effectively we are conducting a further series of test runs today.  Our priority is ensuring that when we resume services we provide our customers with a robust and reliable operation.

We sincerely regret having to take this decision and we understand how frustrated and disappointed travellers will be, particularly those who have been waiting to travel for the last two days.

We strongly advise passengers whose travel is non-essential to change their booking to a later date or claim a refund on their tickets.

For customers who have been unable to travel over the last few days, Eurostar will cover the cost of out-of pocket expenses, for example, hotels and taxis. Full details of our compensation policy are on www.eurostar.com

FAQ’s

We’ve been collating questions from Eurostar’s customers since yesterday and have done our best to answer them below. We hope you’ll find this information useful and we apologise again for the delay in being able to provide them and the inconvenience caused.

When will Eurostars services return to normal?
We have managed to pinpoint the cause of the problem we experienced over the weekend and our engineering team are working hard to make the modifications needed to prevent this issue happening going forward.

Eurostar is committed to getting back to normal services as soon as possible however the service must be robust and that will depend on the results of continual testing and weather in Kent and Northern France. Please continue to check www.Eurostar.com for the latest service updates

How do people go about changing their tickets to a later date?
People should contact their original point of sale for an exchange. Anyone with queries can call our contact centre on 08432 186 186, although due to the current volume of calls, we would recommend that you wait until after the Christmas period to exchange your ticket if you can. Exchanges and refunds can be carried out for up to two months after the original date of departure.

How does ‘first come, first served’ work?
Some people have asked if we will run a ‘first come, first served’ policy for travellers when we do resume a service. This is a process that we only use following extreme disruption. All actual bookings for specific trains and seats become null and void and all tickets for trains during the disruption period become valid for any seat in the same class on any train. However, we know that this situation is particularly unique due to the numbers of people who want to travel in the run up to Christmas, so we are currently developing a prioritisation policy which will take effect when we do resume any services. Details of how this will work will be posted here and on www.eurostar.com as soon as it becomes available. As there will be many people wanting to travel, we are strongly advising travellers against making journeys that are non-essential over the next couple of days.

When will the first come first served be available/ start?
As soon as we are running services, however again we will need to manage large numbers of people to clear the backlog, so please see www.eurostar.com for our latest service updates. We are strongly advising travellers against making journeys that are non-essential over the next couple of days

People in France are being told to queue up at Gard du Nord from 6.30 Monday morning? Is this true? Will the same apply to people traveling from St Pancras?
All trains have been cancelled subject to test results, as soon as we are able to make an announcement regarding the resumption of services we will post the full details both here and on the FAQ section on the Eurostar.com website

As all bookings the have previously been made for this week are now void, what should these people do?
We are strongly advising people without an urgent need to travel to obtain a refund for their tickets or exchange them for a later date. This can be done up to 2 months after the initial planned travel date, from the original point of sale. The bookings for this week are not void as such, but obviously we are not currently running services and, when this does happen, we will be running to an amended timetable, therefore we will need to re-accommodate people as best we can. We will post more information online as soon as we have it re any service resumption. Our main priority at this stage is to work to resume a safe, reliable service for our travellers as soon as possible.

How will this affect passengers travelling from Ashford of Ebbsfleet? Will a certain number of seats be kept for passengers boarding at this point?
Upon resumption of services we have procedures in place whereby we will reserve a proportionate number of seats for travellers from each of our UK stations.

Will passengers be refunded for missing connecting trains?
Under the existing agreement Eurostar have in place with Railteam and other existing operators:

1. Those travellers  going to a Eurostar destination will be able to use their connecting ticket available to catch the next available service to their intended final destinations, we have agreements with SNCF and the other operators and they will accept tickets that were not used during the disruption period
2. for all those who do not travel refunds will have to go back to the point of sale

I need to get to my destination as soon as possible, will Eurostar pay for the flight I have to book?
Your travel insurance should cover any additional costs incurred as a result of the disruption. You can get a full refund for the full cost of your original ticket from your point of sale. A claim for any other out of pocket expenses can be made through our traveller care team by emailing traveller.care@eurostar.co.uk.  Eurostar will be reimbursing reasonable out-of-pocket expenses.  This will include hotel accommodation (to 3* level), transport (taxis, underground and parking) and meals. This will include flights where it is deemed there is no alternative for travel and will be dealt with on a case by case basis.

I’m stuck in Paris, will I be able to use my ticket in Lille and should I travel there?
There are no Eurostar services operating currently from any Eurostar terminal, including Lille. We are strongly advising travellers to not to travel or to make alternative arrangements. As soon as we are again running services we will provide information on the Eurostar.com website. All tickets are fully refundable and exchangeable from your original point of sale. We appreciate that this is a difficult time for many of our travellers and we are doing everything we can to get the services running as soon as possible. We will also pay reasonable out of pocket expenses. This will include hotel accommodation (to 3* level), transport (taxis, underground and parking) and meals. Please see the www.eurostar.com website for updated service information.

What compensation is available if I have been affected?
We will be offering full refunds to all travellers and covering any out of pocket expenses on a case by case basis.

If I have been affected by today’s disruptions how do I claim compensation?
Please email our traveller care team at traveller.care@eurostar.co.uk with your details

Are Ski travellers going to be catered for this Sunday and Monday?
The ski train is also subject to cancellation currently, and therefore again we would recommend exchange or refund of tickets if at all possible. We will update this site and please visit www.eurostar.com with any information as soon as we have it regarding the ski services.

For the ski train, if we get there in the next few days by other means can the return tickets be used to return back on the ski train?
As all services are currently suspended, we cannot comment currently on whether ski services will run this coming weekend. Please continue to check www.eurostar.com and this site regarding service updates. If we do run ski services, we will do our best to accommodate all our travellers on these services. However, details of these services have not yet been confirmed.

What is being done to ensure that the same problem will not affect my journey over the Christmas and New Year period?
As mentioned above, we are in the process of running test trains, with technical experts and engineers on board to ensure that we can understand fully how to mitigate the risks we’ve been experiencing lately. Our intention is to run a service as soon as we can and an update will be provided later today concerning any services which we may be able to run.

With limited seats available for a large number of customers can you explain how you intend to get each one back home for Christmas ?
We are strongly advising that all non-essential travel is cancelled. We cannot guarantee that we will get everyone back home for Christmas, but we are doing everything we can in terms of contingency planning to ensure that we can transport the most people possible before Christmas.

UPDATE: EUROSTAR BOARD ANNOUNCES INDEPENDENT REVIEW

The Board of Eurostar has announced that it has commissioned an independent review into the problems it has experienced over recent days. The review will be led by Christopher Garnett,  former Chief Executive of GNER and formerly Commercial Director of Eurotunnel, in conjunction with Monsieur Claude Gressier who is Inspecteur Général des Ponts et Chaussées. The review will commence with immediate effect.

Coaches to Paris and Brussels

Eurostar has made arrangements for 500 people to travel by train, coach and ferry to Paris and Brussels. We identified 500 people with the most pressing needs i.e. eldery people, people with very young families, and those who had a very pressing need to return home. We managed to secure transport on South Eastern trains travelling to Dover, then coach transport to ferries which will take people back to the Continent. From their arrival point, these travellers will then be transferred by coach to Paris and Brussels.

Obviously the ferries are very busy and we wanted to make arrangements for as many people with the most pressing needs at the time knowing that we do not want to raise expectations for others who were due to travel. This is a one off arrangement and, for those who were and are due to travel, our primary focus now is getting the Eurostar service back up and running as soon as possible, which we are working round the clock to do. As soon as we have more information on that, we will post it here.