Eurostar - not enough staff

[Essexman]

I travelled back from Brussels on the 17.56 yesterday.

The queue to check in went through the Eurostar terminal and to the exit door of the main station directly behind. Inevitably they couldn't get everyone through in the so we left about ten minutes late.

There was only one person serving in the buffet on the train, hence long queue while she cooked pizzas and fancy coffees. Going out on a quieter train on Thursday there had been two staff in the buffet.

Friday evening is known to be busy. Couldn't Eurostar & associated security put on a few extra staff?

 

[richw]

There may be underlying reasons, staff sickness, emergency leave etc. Eurostar may well have fostered on enough staff but those staff didn't cone to work for whatever reason.

 

[158801]

The last time I travelled on Eurostar from Lille to London the queues for security were bad.

We managed to get to the platform just as the train was rolling in (and that was without a wait in the lounge)

 

[johnnychips]

Was the queue to check-in at Eurostar due to their being not enough Eurostar staff, or actually because they had to hold the queue as the Belgian passport, British passport, security machines were causing delays?

I like Eurostar when I've finally got on the train and I think you were unlucky that there was only one person on the buffet - I've never experienced that in about twenty-odd journeys in the last three years.

 

[Essexman]

Was the queue to check-in at Eurostar due to their being not enough Eurostar staff, or actually because they had to hold the queue as the Belgian passport, British passport, security machines were causing delays?

I like Eurostar when I've finally got on the train and I think you were unlucky that there was only one person on the buffet - I've never experienced that in about twenty-odd journeys in the last three years.

In Brussels it was the associated staff and facilities for checking passports (twice) and baggage. It was hard to see where the hold up was, but it wasn't the Eurostar ticket gates. Eurostar loses some of its advantage over flying if it takes ages to get through passport control & security. What a contrast Ebbslfeet is though - it took me about one minute to get through on the way out.

I've rarely found a queue for the buffet before but this one went through the buffet coach door into the vestibule.

 

[317666]

Last time I caught the Eurostar from Brussels back to London, there was a reasonably long queue and a grumpy bloke muttered "What's all this then" and pushed in right in front of me. The man on the Business Premier check-in desk saw this and called me forward to check in there. I thought he was then going to send me back into the Standard queue but he let me straight through into passport control, must have overtaken a good 80-90 people thanks to that!

 

[Greenback]

Personally I wish that Eurostar were run less like an airline style operation, but I understand the reasons why it is.

That said, I'v enever encountered any delays at all at St Pancras. I have had to wait a minute or two at both Gare du Nord and Brussels Midi, but as far as I could see that was as much due to the security checks, and a lot passengers arriving at a similar time, than any shortage of staff at check in.

In fact, on my last trip from Brussels once through security there I went straight to the desk to convert my DB through ticket into the Eurostar one.

 

[leytongabriel]

Sounds like you've been lucky! There was a very bad phase in Paris a couple of years ago with consistently not enough British passport check posts open and queues building back up through the ticket gates. But they seem to have got the message now.

As for the buffet, Eurostar staff told me that it had been reduced to one-person operation some time ago but that doesn't appear to hold true now. Though whether this because other people help when not serving first class passengers in their seats, I'm not sure. The reasonably priced Waitrose items are good news.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Might be related:

Two staff members in the St Pancras terminal on Monday told me they are planning to stop the sale of the Paris Visite etc in the terminal altogether and move it to the buffet car on the trains instead.

No, there will not be a "train walker" either; those wanting to buy the tickets will have to walk to the buffet.

( Or just buy it from Rail Europe in Piccadilly instead, I suppose...?? )