Eurotunnel train stopped in Channel Tunnel by power fault

Richard Byrom, passenger: "We were evacuated into the service tunnels"

Hundreds of passengers have had to be evacuated from a broken-down train in the Channel Tunnel in an incident which has led to long delays to travellers.

The 06:20 BST train from Folkestone, carrying 382 people, stopped about a quarter of the way to France.

The 382 passengers were evacuated and taken on to the French terminal.

Long delays and queues are expected all day. The broken down train reached France at 17:15 BST where passengers were reunited with their cars.

The delays could affect the support teams travelling to France for the Tour de France. On Monday evening, the riders flew to France on four chartered aeroplanes from London City Airport.

A spokesman for Eurotunnel said services should run normally on Tuesday.

Richard Westcott says big queues are forming as passengers wait at St Pancras

There are also delays on Eurostar passenger services, with delays and cancellations on trains between London St Pancras and Paris and Brussels.

Eurotunnel said a fault with the overhead power lines in the tunnel caused the problem.

The driver brought the train to a stop and passengers were evacuated into the middle service tunnel, which runs between the two main tunnels and is designed to allow people to escape from halted trains.

A train was brought from France along the other main tunnel and parked alongside the stopped train to allow passengers to board it and be carried to France without their cars.

Passenger Richard Byrom, from Maidstone, told BBC Radio Kent: "All of a sudden I heard this crashing noise, it didn't sound like the train itself had crashed but what became evident later on was that the power cables had got entangled or come down.

"For about 20 minutes the train just stopped and we didn't know what had happened.

"Eventually they said they are going to take us off the train because they couldn't move our train because it was trapped by the power cables or something like that."

He said the passengers had to wait in the service tunnel for about half an hour before boarding the train that took them to France and he had been stuck for about four hours in total. He said they were given an evacuation pack of a pen, notepad, playing cards, torch, fan, water and wet wipes.

Passengers - and dogs - had to be taken to France in a train without their cars

Another passenger, Brian Tait from Dover, said earlier that the process had been "civilised" but added: "Communication has been bad, we have not heard when we will get our car back, it's all been word of mouth."

Luke Chaplin, who said he was starting a holiday with his wife that was a wedding present, said: "It started off really well, there was lot of communication, and we were off the train fairly quickly, well in four hours.

"We've been at the French terminal since noon, and we've not heard much since then.

"We've been given water and a sandwich, just one sandwich. Nobody has said anything about compensation."

He said passengers waiting for their cars had then had to evacuate the terminal building in France when a fire alarm sounded.

Hundreds of passengers had to be led into the service tunnel

The train was only about seven miles into its 30 mile tunnel route when it stopped and the spokesman said it would have been quicker to tow it back to Kent but the company chose to take it to France so passengers could be reunited with their cars.

Tour de France

Eurotunnel continues to run services in the one unblocked tunnel with trains running in one direction for 90 minutes and then in the opposite direction for 90 minutes.

The firm has stopped taking bookings for the day. It said there was a waiting time of up to six hours at the terminal.

Eurostar, which operates passenger trains through the tunnel running between London and Paris and Brussels, has cancelled a number of services in each direction and warned passengers on trains that were running to expect delays.

"If travel today is non-essential you can exchange your ticket, free of charge, to another available service within the next four months," it told customers.

The cyclists competing in the Tour de France are due to be on French soil on Monday evening after flying on four chartered planes from London City Airport, after finishing the third stage in London.

Whether the Tour's vast fleet of support vehicles make it across the Channel depends in part on a fully-functioning Eurotunnel.

The fourth stage is set to begin in Le Touquet on Tuesday.

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"We've been given water and a sandwich, just one sandwich. Nobody has said anything about compensation”

Luke ChaplinPassenger