Travel News

Thousands of passengers are facing disruption with services suspended for the rest of the day.

All Eurostar trains between London and Paris have been cancelled after an unexploded Second World War bomb was found near train tracks. 

Thousands of passengers are facing disruption as the cross-Channel operator halted 10 services on Friday morning.

All trains between London and Paris will remain suspended for the rest of the day.

Pictures from Gare du Nord show large queues of stranded travellers, while a large crowd of people gathered outside the check-in area at London St Pancras.

The bomb was discovered at around 4am by workers moving earth near the tracks in the Saint-Denis area, north of central Paris.

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Bomb disposal experts have been sent to the site and the operation is still ongoing.

French transport minister Philippe Tabarot told broadcaster Sud Radio local residents and people near the train stations should have "no fear" of a risk of explosion, stressing the procedures in place for defusing and removing such bombs.

First and Second World War bombs are regularly discovered around France but very rarely in such a densely populated area.

Eurostar said in a statement it "sincerely apologises for the disruption and understands the inconvenience this may cause".

France's national train operator SNCF said services had been suspended at the request of the police and asked "travellers to postpone their trip".

Trains to northern France have also been brought to a halt from Gare du Nord, which is a major European transport hub and considered the world's busiest railway station outside of Japan.

Fridays are the busiest day of the week for Eurostar, as many holidaymakers embark on international weekend breaks.

Plans thrown into doubt

Lee Bailey told Sky News he arrived at Gare du Nord to find hundreds of people waiting before being told of the unexploded bomb.

"It's a new one for me," he said, adding the staff were "extremely professional".

"It was a large mass of quiet people waiting to find out what they should do next," he said.

At St Pancras, Charlotte Kidd, who travelled to London from Bath on Thursday night to get to Disneyland Paris for her 30th birthday this weekend, said she was still hopeful of arriving in time.

"We've got two hours. If not, we'll try and get there some other way," she said.

Emma Roe, part of a group of eight friends, said they were looking up flights to go "maybe to Amsterdam from Luton, just somewhere else".

Lauren Romeo-Smith, part of a group planning to travel for a weekend away to celebrate a birthday, said: "We're looking up flights, but our options are limited."

Five of the six flights that British Airways is operating from Heathrow to Paris Charles de Gaulle on Friday after midday are full.

A ticket for the one with spare seats, which departs at 6.20pm, is being sold for £264.

Eurostar said affected passengers can exchange their ticket for free to travel at a different time or date in the same travel class.

Trains between London and Brussels are unaffected.