Eurotunnel delays on Friday night - anyone know why?

[Lyza]

We travelled on Eurotunnel on Friday night. A service which is usually excellent. There seemed to be a problem which was explained by staff as an extrememly busy day causing a backup of cars. But there was no movement on the UK side for about 1.5 hours. Once we were loaded we had a very long wait - about 30 mins, then we went backwards, never done that before. Then we sat in a tunnel - with lights for another 30 minutes. 4 trains came past us whilst we were stationary. We eventually arrived at the other side at about 3.15 am on Saturday morning.

No explanation or real apology. Anyone know why it happened?

Lyza

[Sunday Driver]

Somebody's explosive detection swab came up positive and they were waiting for the SAS to storm the train......

Must have been a false alarm  [;-)]

[Lyza]

Now I hadn't thought of that![+o(]

[Alane]

If you complain using the Customer Service link on their web site they will usually tell you what the problem was, and may, just may, offer you a voucher against future crossings to compensate for the inconvenience.

We usually travel on a Thursday evening at around 8:30 to 9 (take Friday off and whizz down to Folkestone after work). It is usually very quiet and I'm always suspicious when there is very little traffic and the train is cancelled. The cynic in me wonders if they aren't just saving costs by taking out a train. However your experience is very different and is worth a query to them.

In general I've found them to be offering a better service this year with no problems getting on to an earlier crossing at quiet times if we arrive early whereas in the past they would employ some charmless jobsworth to prevent one boarding an earlier than booked crossing despite the fact that the earlier crossing, at the same tariff, was obviously nearly empty.

 

[Anton Redman]

Write to customer services asking why and saying how many time a year you travel and that their on road to road time was much worse than you could have done with Speed Ferries.

The worst that can happen is that they offer you a free ticket which is little like being offered mumps because you contracted chicken pox.

We gave up using them the first time following their very poor responce after the fire. Free passage on P & O for half a £ 380 ticket when it cost us £ 80 to turn up and go on Sea France

We gave the second time when it took us almost five hours one Saturday from check in at Calais to on road at Folkestone

[opas]

You realy should contact them and ask why no information was relayed to passengers.

A similar thing happened to us a few years ago , we were parked in a tunnel for about 3/4 hour, nobody came into the carriage to explain nor were any announcements made.

When I wrote and stated this we got a free return crossing of our choice and considering we used to go to France at peak holiday times was a gift .

[Will]

We have friends who came over the other day by the tunnel. They were due to travel on Speedferries but in the end could not due to overbooking, and got very short shrift from the company's customer services - which is another story altogether. They had a pretty chaotic time at the tunnel terminal, with very long waiting times, apparently because the check-in procedure had been changed, and the new system broke down with the peak-level traffic resulting from it being a British holiday period.

[Alane]

I've found they are a lot les generous with the free crossings than they used to be - or maybe they've just got me marked as a serial complainer.

The automated check in system is going to be a nightmare at peak periods in the summer. Many people don't seem to be able to get the hang of it first time so end up calling the attendants. We got held up for 10 minutes last Sunday due to the person in front not liking the alternative crossing they had been offered, presumably after turning up late, and waiting for an attendant to come over to complain to - they ended up having to settle for the crossing offered but were obviously fed up.

The queues don't seem any longer at the check-in booths so probably best to head for a manned booth in future.

 

[opas]

We are probably serial moaners too!

They used to give out Kiddie packs(do they still do that?) Ours looked forward to them, there wasn`t anything too special in them , perhaps a 5 pack of small crayons a colouring sheet and 2 sided leaflet with some puzzles on it.

When we turned up one time they had run out.

On return home our eldest then about 7/8 years old wrote to the company and complained, she received an appology and a £10.00 voucher to be spent in the terminal shops at Ashford, she realy enjoyed spending that with her sister, and we thought it was a lovely gesture.

[Lyza]

Well thanks to everyone for the advice. Just got back from France. Completely trouble free journey back through the tunnel this morning. I have following your advice just emailed a long complaint to Eurotunnel. Let's see what they say.

Best wishes and thanks

Lyza

[Fay]

I've rarely had a problem with Eurotunnel and certainly nothing as grim as your experience, and I use them about once a month. But I have found the self-check-in system a real pain; I always seem to get stuck behind someone (or several someones) who take forever to work the darn things. Plus you can't ask a machine nicely if you can go on an earlier train if you turn up early (which I've always been allowed to except in busy high season).

BUT do they get shirty with you if you are pre-booked but go to a manned booth? I haven't tried that so far.

[Kiera]

Fay, I've used the manned booths a couple of times now with my pre-booked ticket, just to see if I could be moved onto an earlier crossing, never been a problem using them, got an earlier train once, the second time they wouldn't let me on any earlier.

 

Last time I got stuck on the tunnel, (a couple of weeks ago for 40 minutes)  the compensation was being able to come back an hour later than the return ticket stated - but only if you were on a daytrip, nothing for those of us going for a longer period. When I first started using the tunnel (shortly after it opened) on two occasions we were given (without asking or complaining!) return club class tickets as compensation for delays. My daughter misses the goody bags too!

Kiera

[Brian]

Having used the tunnel recently we found no problem using the automatic check in procedure, being offered earlier times by the machine on both occasions (the outward journey being at the earlier, more expensive time at no extra charge; ie before 1500 for frequent traveller). No need to smile sweetly at the person in the manned booth either!

Brian

[Kevinandval]

I think we were on the same train as you but we all fell asleep. I thought it was funny when we went backwards but it seems that there was a train broken down in the tunnel so we think that  we went towards Ashford to change lines. We drove on about 11.50pm (UK) drove off  3.45am (French) not bad for a 35 minute crossing but as I said we did nod off.