Eurostar disrupted as French customs workers protest ahead of Brexit

Eurostar passengers hoping to make the trip from Paris to London by train are being told to travel "only if absolutely necessary" this week.

Industrial action by French customs officers resulted in long queues at the Gare du Nord station in the French capital.

The Channel rail operator was struggling to contain the disruption by the workers over pay, conditions and preparations for Brexit.

The operator warned that the interruption to services would continue to cause delays and long queues over the coming days.

Passengers were forced to queue for more than five hours over the weekend. On Monday, Eurostar cancelled three trains and several others were delayed due to the industrial action.

French customs officials are demanding more pay and resources ahead of Brexit. They have been working to rule by carrying out more stringent checks than normal in an attempt to demonstrate the impact of tighter border controls after the UK withdraws from the EU.

This caused long queues at the port and Eurotunnel terminal in Calais, northern France last week.

Eurostar said in a statement: “French customs officers at Paris Gare du Nord continue to take part in industrial action.

“As a result, the regular pre-departure security checks are taking longer than usual and this is causing delays on departure in Paris.”

Frontier officials, numbering around 17,000, have been seeking higher pay and improved working conditions for some time. Last Wednesday their unions rejected a government pay offer as insufficient.

The Financial Times reported that a confidential report drawn up last month by the British government found that queues for Eurostar services at St Pancras could reach up to 15,000 passengers each day in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Eurostar has indicated to the British government that in a worst-case scenario it would be unable to survive commercially for more than six to 12 weeks.

Work-to-rule action began in early March in the French ports of Dunkirk and Calais, which led to long delays for trucks waiting to cross the Channel. Industrial action by customs officials at the Gare du Nord began last Monday.

The United Kingdom’s protracted Brexit negotiations have become a serious cause of concern for the workers.

With the UK scheduled to leave the EU on March 29 – unless a deal is reached or a postponement happens – the French officials say they will need many more staff to process British travellers, who would become “third-country citizens” and subject to much greater scrutiny and tough new rules on passport validity.

Contact the writer at jonathan@mail.chinadailyuk.com