Eurostar Delayed By Four Hours Due To Drunk Passengers

[duncanp]

A report from La Voix Du Nord

http://www.lavoixdunord.fr/170108/a...-heures-pour-un-controle-de-ses-770-passagers

As the article is in French, I won't enclose the text in quotes, but the gist of what happened was

(1) There were two drunk passengers on a Paris - London Eurostar who were asked to leave the train at Calais Frethun
(2) Instead of just opening the doors of just one carriage to let the passengers out, all the doors were opened instead
(3) Several passengers to the opportunity to stretch their legs on the platform, which caused the train to become no longer secure. (etanche = sealed)

(4) This necessitated the complete evacuation of the train, and all passengers had to go through security and passport control again, rather like what happens at Lille with the Marseille to London train. In addition the train had to be searched by customs, which took about an hour.

Fortunately someone had the presence of mind to temporarily suspend overnight engineering works on the UK side, otherwise the train could not have reached St Pancras until 06:30.

The article contains a photo of the mess at Calais, which happened on Monday evening.

I guess Eurostar will have to review their procedures.

Does anyone know if it is possible to just open one door on a Eurostar train?

Something similar could happen on either side of the channel if there was a medical emergency.

 

[HowardGWR]

I read about it in a Dutch newspaper. Strange, as British newspapers always report ES problems with alacrity. I didn't know Calais Frethun was 'insecure'. Can you travel locally from / to there?

 

[Groningen]

Just the control of the 770 passengers alone took 4 hours.

 

[yorksrob]

Don't the Eurostar sets have a special holding cell/compartment to prevent this sort of incident ?

 

[NicholasNCE]

If only the UK was part of the Schengen area... :roll:

 

[Groningen]

According to the Daily Mail the train arrived in London at 4:10 in the morning. Just 5,5 hours late. Strange that there is a Eurostar from Brussel just a few minutes earlier and that one is stopping in Frethun. They did not time to clean the platform to let the Paris Eurostar arrive in Frethun.

 

[duncanp]

The platform at Calais Frethun is in a secure area, past security and passport control

What I don't get is why then it was necessary to repeat passport control and security checks.

Sounds like bad handling of the situation by Eurostar, and the usual sheer bloody mindedness by the French authorities.

 

[HowardGWR]

The platform at Calais Frethun is in a secure area, past security and passport control

What I don't get is why then it was necessary to repeat passport control and security checks.

Sounds like bad handling of the situation by Eurostar, and the usual sheer bloody mindedness by the French authorities.

No I don't know either, but I am not jumping to conclusions.

Evening Standard reporting a six hour delay. Any advance? Or would that be the hour difference in clocks?

I read that the drunks were put up in a hotel. Well bully for them!

 

[EM2]

No I don't know either, but I am not jumping to conclusions.

Evening Standard reporting a six hour delay. Any advance? Or would that be the hour difference in clocks?

I read that the drunks were put up in a hotel. Well bully for them!

Six and a half hours. Due at St Pancras at 21:39, actual arrival time 04:08.

 

[duncanp]

It just seems wrong to me that the removal of two drunks from a train should result in a very long delay and all the inconvenience to passengers.

Surely it should have been possible for the police to remove them without all this bother.

If I had my way, people who behave like this on trains and aircraft should have their passports endorsed, like driving licences are endorsed for certain motoring offences.

Then people with endorsements should be made to pay a deposit of, say, £150, which they get back if they behave themselves. With e-passports it should be relatively easy to have these details recorded.

 

[Suraggu]

So whoever is in charge of the doors didn't operate local door only.... Woops.

 

[Bletchleyite]

So whoever is in charge of the doors didn't operate local door only.... Woops.

Do the E* doors actually have locking, or just 5km/h UIC door blocking i.e. disabling of internal handles above 5km/h?

If the latter, you don't operate anything - if it stops, the doors are released.

 

[citycat]

So whoever is in charge of the doors didn't operate local door only.... Woops.

I was a train guard for GNER when they operated Eurostar sets to Leeds on the White Rose services. Although I could close all the doors myself on departure, on arrival, the doors were released by the driver and would all open.

I could lock certain doors out of use by inserting a special bolt into the lock, but there was no way of isolating all the doors on the train to prevent them from opening if the driver released them.

The only way to open a local door was to pull the emergency release handle which would only operate at 3kph or less I seem to remember.

 

[island]

The platform at Calais Frethun is in a secure area, past security and passport control

What I don't get is why then it was necessary to repeat passport control and security checks.

Sounds like bad handling of the situation by Eurostar, and the usual sheer bloody mindedness by the French authorities.

Yes, exactly. Something's not quite right. And it's also unclear where the UK Border Force officers to check everyone at Calais-Fréthun would have come from, given they'd be off duty and presumably gone home.

You can travel locally between Brussels and Lille/Calais and v/v; for travel from Belgium to France passengers are for the most part restricted to the rearmost carriage which is isolated during the journey and everyone in it is chucked out at Calais.

 

[Groningen]

Six and a half hours. Due at St Pancras at 21:39, actual arrival time 04:08.

Normal arrival in London is really at 22:39. Paris - London in 86 minutes; do not think so!

 

[EM2]

Normal arrival in London is really at 22:39. Paris - London in 86 minutes; do not think so!

No, this was the 9O59 service, booked to arrive at 21:39 local time, not 9O63 which is the 22:39 arrival.

 

[theageofthetra]

The platform at Calais Frethun is in a secure area, past security and passport control

What I don't get is why then it was necessary to repeat passport control and security checks.

Sounds like bad handling of the situation by Eurostar, and the usual sheer bloody mindedness by the French authorities.

And no wonder these idiots are getting so desperate they are offering discounted tickets to Paris during the French Open fortnight.

 

[Groningen]

No, this was the 9O59 service, booked to arrive at 21:39 local time, not 9O63 which is the 22:39 arrival.

OK sorry, but that makes it much more terrible. Maybe, maybe that train should have continued to London and than make there the arrest. 4 hours to check 770 passengers. Maybe they learn something from it. If drunk allow the passenger not to board the train or if drunk on the train do not sell any more % to that person.

 

[duncanp]

Yes, I can't help thinking that if they were that drunk, they must have been causing problems in the departure lounge.

I hope they are charged and sent a bill for some or all of the inconvenience.

 

[sarahj]

Yes, I can't help thinking that if they were that drunk, they must have been causing problems in the departure lounge.

I hope they are charged and sent a bill for some or all of the inconvenience.

Sadly, the general view of station staff, and some police, is if they put them on the train they are someone else's problem. eg. Police put a woman on my train at East Croydon, she was drunk and emotional. I was not that happy, but had to make a split decision and she seemed, sort of ok, and a back story I felt a bit for her. Anyway, off we went. As the trip went on, I became her 'best friend', as you do. But, I have other punters to deal with, so left her dozing and did my thing. Anyway, someone decided to talk to her, she stood up, and then fell down knocking her head. Result, we sat at Plumpton almost 50 mins waiting for an ambulance. (another story). But sadly, it's common for the police and station staff to put folks on trains, just to get rid of them.

 

[Please Explain]

Sadly, the general view of station staff, and some police, is if they put them on the train they are someone else's problem. eg. Police put a woman on my train at East Croydon, she was drunk and emotional. I was not that happy, but had to make a split decision and she seemed, sort of ok, and a back story I felt a bit for her. Anyway, off we went. As the trip went on, I became her 'best friend', as you do. But, I have other punters to deal with, so left her dozing and did my thing. Anyway, someone decided to talk to her, she stood up, and then fell down knocking her head. Result, we sat at Plumpton almost 50 mins waiting for an ambulance. (another story). But sadly, it's common for the police and station staff to put folks on trains, just to get rid of them.

Exactement!