Eurostar rail chaos as French customs staff stage no-deal Brexit checks

 

FILE PHOTO: An Eurostar high speed train enters the Channel Tunnel in Coquelles, near Calais France, March 1, 2019. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo

 

PARIS (Reuters) - Train services between Paris and London suffered long delays on Wednesday as French customs staff made extra security checks to highlight the pressure Britain's departure from the European Union could place on their workforce.

 

Train operator Eurostar said services were experiencing delays of up to two hours at the Gare du Nord in Paris because of the additional security controls.

 

Thousands of passengers queued up to pass through passport control as customs officials took longer questioning passengers and running bag checks.

 

"Feeling like a pawn in the Brexit game as I am currently stuck at Gare du Nord while French staff prove how terrible Brexit will be," passenger Lucy Hagger wrote on Twitter.

 

French customs workers began their protest on Monday at the northern ports of Calais and Dunkirk, where long lines of trucks built up as customs workers ran extensive checks.

 

The labour unions behind the protest action say the delays underline the need for more customs workers to be hired.

 

"We will overcome the shortcomings and lack of preparedness," the five unions said in a joint statement before launching their protests this week. "But we want to alert the authorities to the state of disrepair of the customs administration."

 

(Reporting by Richard Lough and Simon Carraud; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-03-07

But waiting in line for 2 hours clutching that blue passport will make it all worth it...

no reason to waste time in line

several OK eateries very close to Gare du Nord

 

 

this is sort of typical French, using a potential no-deal Brexit to argue for more staff

 

 

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Thousands of passengers queued up to pass through passport control as customs officials took longer questioning passengers and running bag checks.

Cor Blimey...

 

worse than Suvarnabhumi Airport. ☹️

French workers doing what French workers do best,very little ,very slowly.

Sent from my SM-A720F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

let the games begin..

Sounds more like Gatwick and Heathrow when I fly in from New York.Immigration line 2.5 hours last arrival at Gatwick.

Now, who would have organised this anti-Brexit action?

1 hour ago, STALINGRAD said:

Sounds more like Gatwick and Heathrow when I fly in from New York.Immigration line 2.5 hours last arrival at Gatwick.

joking?

 

6 hours ago, melvinmelvin said:

no reason to waste time in line

several OK eateries very close to Gare du Nord

 

 

this is sort of typical French, using a potential no-deal Brexit to argue for more staff

 

 

 

Exactly! It's about the unions wanting to see more people employed. Brexit just a current convenient excuse.

 

Be the French air traffic controllers turn next!

Just a simple work to rule action to negotiate for more staff. They can be as difficult or efficient as they want regardless of Brexit. 

3 hours ago, hansnl said:

Now, who would have organised this anti-Brexit action?

Mr Macaroni for one. Whispered by Soros maybe?

Edited March 7, 20197 yr by hugocnx

2 hours ago, melvinmelvin said:

joking?

 

2 hours when I flew in to LHR last time. Normally go through once a year. A hour before that. Pretty standard to have a long wait.

 

I was in the 'others' lane.

 

Going to be plenty more 'others' shortly. That will make traveling to the UK fun.

8 minutes ago, samran said:

2 hours when I flew in to LHR last time. Normally go through once a year. A hour before that. Pretty standard to have a long wait.

 

I was in the 'others' lane.

 

Going to be plenty more 'others' shortly. That will make traveling to the UK fun.

jeeez, would kill me

 

ages ago I experienced ridiculous immigration queues flying into JFK,

stopped that after 2-3 times

then flew into Dulles - quick quick

and took another flight back to NYC

 

comfortable

 

I DO hate immigration queues

 

does it comes to nobody's mind this I a kind of rehearsal in case of … of course U.K. does not  need preparing ...