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Well I'm booked on at 1920 Hrs tomorrow. Decision now is should I just book a ferry! :(
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Well I'm booked on at 1920 Hrs tomorrow. Decision now is should I just book a ferry! :(
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Or phone me and I will drive you to the airport!
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Thanks for the offer! Im looking at getting a ferry straight from Hull, as even Dover looks like a nightmare on the TV. They are on about running again tomorrow, so probably wouldnt get a refund
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We often use Hull-Zebrugge but go as day passengers without the car. Cuts out a long drive even though we have to get to Hull.
Best of luck with getting there. At short notice P&O from Hull might not be so cheap. Last time we went I used Airmiles.
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Yes, just booked it. Price was an ok £180 for decent cabin (I will save diesel money and hotel in N France!) There is little chance of it running tomorrow according to Sky, as it is still burning. Will see if I can get any of my money back!
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Aren't they meant to reopen tomorrow and it will be those from today that have a problem. You have a slot booked.
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Just been on Sky News that they will decide on tomorrow at 2200hrs tonight, but the reporter reckoned its now unlikely (about running tomorrow I mean)
Edited by PR {P} on 11/09/2008 at 19:29
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I am booked on the 9:20 - 5th october
should be running by then
No Problem - The IRA tried to blow me up in London (twice), Hitler tried to bomb my mum and dad (before i was born). Somewhere there is a callendar with your name on a date. No point worrying when or where. You aint changing it.
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According to the above link...
'Eurostar said it has implemented a policy of exchange or refund for people who do not want to travel after the incident.'
It would seem that a refund should be forthcoming.
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The Times website says Eurotunnel saying to cancel tonight if non-essential to get a refund. There's a freephone message number on their website.
I'd be cancelling it tonight (or trying to) to make sure I got the money back. You're going on the ferry now anyway.
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The freephone number is a recorded message saying it is closed until further notice. I will email them and inform them of my request for a refund (Or the return leg in 2 weeks which I havent yet sorted)
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According to the BBC's website; the French Interior Ministry say that a truck loaded with phenol "overturned" on the train and 100 firemen are still fighting the fire - although it is "contained." [Duh? It's in a tunnel...]
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Out of curiousity, how on earth can it have overturned whilst presumably parked up on the train? or am I missing something about the operation of the tunnel having never been through the thing.
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No I thought the same! Unless it overturned in some sort of small blast? Either way it looks like it will be shut for a while. I went on the booking site to see what is available and it is all greyed out until monday am. Not sure if this tells us anything or not?
I have emailed them asking on their refund policy
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trucks are on a kind of open roof lattice sided train carriage
there is little side to side movement possible - I too find it hard to see how one could "overturn"
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Maybe it lost something in the translation? Maybe "spilled over" and "turned over" are similar in French?
The link:-
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7610919.stm
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Thu 23:150 hours. BBC News24
It was reported that the fire was still burning.
Earlier IIRC ... and there was a risk of it spreading to other trunks on which there is other problem products.
AFP says
"The fire appears to be accidental. It started in a truck brake system that overheated and spread to a tyre and then to two other trucks," Malhanche said.
One of the other trucks on the shuttle was transporting phenol acid, but this did not catch fire, officials said.
"It is probable that the damage is major as the firemen told me that the heat from the fire probably reached 1,000 degrees Celsius," the minister added."
AP says
"Firefighters got the blaze under control within two hours, but weren't able to immediately put it out because temperatures as high as 1,832 degrees complicated their effort, she said.
The freight tunnel could be disabled for days ? if not weeks, Alliot-Marie said."
Also reported that the last fire shut the tunnel ( one bore ?) for six months.
IMO it will take days to check the lining of the tunnel and signalling / safety systems.
Then corrections / repairs can startat th
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Also reported that the last fire shut the tunnel ( one bore ?) for six months.
Did they ever determine the cause of the 1996 fire?
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Similar I think...
BTW there isn't a "Freight Tunnel" - both tunnels are used for all traffic, passenger, cars and freight... it'll mess up Eurostar bigtime! They will probably use one tunnel up to the first set of crossovers and then both from there onwards - thats what they did earlier in the year - all that does is restrict the number of trains which can use the tunnel, though.
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Some of the report in a UK paper
A stretch of 700 metres of the eastbound bore of the Channel Tunnel was seriously damaged by yesterday's fire and could take months to repair, French officials said today.
The other single-track tunnel was unscathed and is expected to re-open tomorrow or Sunday, relieving chaos and confusion for tens of thousands of cross-Channel travellers.
The blaze, which reached temperatures over 1,000 degrees Celsius and took 16 hours to extinguish, destroyed almost all the 27 lorries on a freight-shuttle bound for Calais. Earlier official reports said that only three of the trucks had burned.
Doubts also emerged today about the probable cause of the blaze. French officials initially said that the fire started in the overheated brake system of one truck aboard the shuttle. Eurotunnel rejected this explanation yesterday and said that it was too early to say how the fire had started.
The separate, southerly - normally eastbound - bore of the tunnel was untouched by the blaze and could open to car and freight shuttles and Eurostar trains as soon as tomorrow, Eurotunnel said. East and westbound trains could enter the remaining single track of the tunnel in alternate groups, allowing a reduced and, somewhat slower, service to resume.
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Lets hope PR got away okay.
And there was me thinking last night I was glad to by flying to my holiday destination in two weeks and a bit... and XL go into admin. Luckily we're not with them but had considered Kosmar so nearly....
I am surprised the conspiracy theorists aren't drawing any links to the date for the channel fire. It sounds pretty bad to me and was it a coincidence for the date.
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The key info from
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7613632.stm
Tunnel train services to resume. ( 0600 Sat )
The first train to run through the Channel Tunnel since its closure following a fire is scheduled to make a journey early on Saturday.
The freight train is due to leave Dollands Moor marshalling yard near Folkestone, at 0008 BST.
Eurotunnel has said passenger services are expected to resume at about 0600 BST on Saturday.
Batches of four trains an hour will begin running in alternate directions between the UK and France.
Eurotunnel also revealed it had run two test trains through the south tunnel from Calais to Folkestone on Friday and was due to run two more in the opposite direction.
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We were booked on a 7:50am crossing from Calais yesterday morning and heard the news as we were well under way on our journey from Italy. The Eurotunnel helpline was permanently unavailable, and could find no further information on the internet about when services were likely to resume.
We pressed on and hoped something would be running. When we arrived at check in at Calais, we were told the tunnel would be out of action for some time, and were given a free ticket for a Sea France ferry, but advised it would be "on the first boat with space available". We drove straight to the ferry terminal, and were pleasantly surprised to be allocated a slot on the 8:30 crossing. We arrived back in the UK with only a short delay.
It was very well handled by the staff on site, but there was precious little information in advance, and the helpline was unobtainable. It was also slightly surprising to find more detail on the news websites than on Eurotunnel's own.
Still, the result was OK. I had visions of being stuck in France for days.#
It was also the first time I'd witnessed Operation Stack on the M20. As we headed London bound, the opposite carriageway was about a ten mile long queue of parked lorries. Amazing.
Cheers
DP
Edited by DP on 13/09/2008 at 08:00
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I am surprised the conspiracy theorists aren't drawing any links to the date for the channel fire. It sounds pretty bad to me and was it a coincidence for the date.
Well I'm no conspiracy theorist but it seems pretty obvious that a likely cause is someone pumping the tyres full of fuel and attaching a small explosive device. 'Overheated brakes'? Pah! If you've ever experienced the time it takes for the slow trundle down to the train, then along it, then the wait till it gets going...!!!
Another seven minutes and it would have gone off too late - just as the Lockerbie device went off just a few minutes too soon. It really is about time the Koran went into a second edition - minus chapter 9.
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Arrived at the French side about 7.00 last night looking to travel back to UK. Still not open for cars but we were issued with a voucher for Sea France and got on the 9.15 so not too bad. Very busy of course.
Agree with earlier comments that the website or customer services lines could have been better managed. In the end though, it was not really a problem and far less of a delay than I have regularly faced at airports recently.
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Certainly the suggested causes given so far all seem utter balderdash. About the same level of credibility as the comments of a crooked back-street mechanic when he thinks the punter's thick.
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On the day it happened, the news sites were reporting that the offending truck had overturned on the train. I would love to know how this is possible, given that the "cage" trucks that HGVs travel on are barely any wider than the truck itself.
It does seem a little odd......
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Everyones guessing at the moment... we'll know the truth in due course...
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It may be 'understood that the lorry overturned on the freight train'. But I'm damned if I can understand how that can have happened.
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