Eurostar issues - 23rd December

[mq90]

Someone has been struck on the HS line in France and that's caused a bit of havoc on the Eurostar line.

Obviously that's awful and my thoughts are with all people affected.

I am a Belgian national/UK resident and was due to travel on the 19:34 to Lille/Brussels to see relatives for Chrstmas. This was cancelled and no way I can make the 18:04 which is still running (I live in St Albans but my partner was due to meet me at St Pancras after she finishes work at 17:30).

A friend of mine who lives in Devon was on the 13:04 which left St Pancras more than two hours late and will get three hours late into Bruxelles-Midi.

Now I have been able to rebook on tomorrow's 07:04 and my partner will simply come home and we'll have a very early one tomorrow. But not everyone will be as lucky and will be stranded in London.

Which brings me to the following: would Eurostar be liable to pay any compensation.

If I was to miss the last Glasgow train and had to rebook onto the first one the day after, I would get my whole fare back. Which simply isn't the case with Eurostar. Are there grounds to seek compensation here? (As I probably will have to use up a day's annual leave to travel tomorrow as it's a normal work day that I planned to work from the in-laws).

 

[peteb]

1440 Amsterdam Centraal to London 1757 currently held at Brussels, passengers have been told they're awaiting a driver from UK...........so might be in for a bit of a wait....Eurostar told passengers to anticipate a 180-240 minute delayed arrival at London St Pancras International. Given this is possibly a 10pm arrival in London, I assume a good many long distance onward connections will be missed.

Trains have resumed, Amsterdam train approaching London now (2000hrs).

 

[mq90]

07:04 out of London St Pancras was a breeze.

Now to lock horns with Eurostar re compensation, I'd have had confirmation of auto delay-repay with most TOCs in Britain by now. That's something they really need to integrate to Club Eurostar.

 

[rvdborgt]

You can fill out their compensation form:

Exchanges and refunds | Eurostar

Everything you need to know about how to exchange your ticket or claim compensation for any disruption caused.

www.eurostar.com

You were delayed at least 60 minutes, so you're "entitled to claim compensation", according to Eurostar.
They may claim your train was on time, but delay is based on the difference between the arrival time of the original booking and the actual arrival time.

 

[100andthirty]

Despite some of the horror stories on RailUK Forums, UK delay-repay is a breeze compared with Europe. My one experience following a 3 hour sleeper delay between Amersfoort and Munchen HBf on a sleeper in May 2025 eventually delivered the compensation in October 2025

 

[rvdborgt]

Despite some of the horror stories on RailUK Forums, UK delay-repay is a breeze compared with Europe. My one experience following a 3 hour sleeper delay between Amersfoort and Munchen HBf on a sleeper in May 2025 eventually delivered the compensation in October 2025

My compensations from ÖBB have always come within the required 30 days.