Good evening,

For once I will submit a question instead of advising, as I am really not sure what I should do.

My sister visited for Christmas, she purchased a Eurostar return ticket from Paris to London.

The return journey wasn't brilliant...

Eurostar advises to reach the London station at least 30 minutes before the departure time. On 26 Dec, she arrived around 45 minutes in advance (because buses to London were slower than usual due to city traffic), just to find an immense queue at the checkin.

Time went by and when she reached the checkin desk, the operator said that it was too late to board the train!

The only "solution" they offered to cross the channel was to purchase another ticket for a next train. While she had purchased the return ticket for around 75 EUR, she now had to pay an additional 150 EUR! The operator said she didn't have a cancellation or change option on the ticket.

I find this insane.

She has sent a long complaint, as by experience Eurostar deals rather well with customer problems (back to 2009, I was in 3 trains, the first time the train got burnt; the second time the tunnel got flooded; the third and last one, I stayed stucked in the tunnel for 3 hours).

They have replied that the delay was due to additional passport and luggage controls.

They have directly processed a refund of the first ticket price.

Still from my perspective:

- she suffered a delay of several hours;

- on top of this, the delay costed her 75 EUR;

Eurostar also said that they didn't communicate with customers (text, email) although they were aware of the delay, because... this isn't what they normally do.

Any advice on how to pinpoints evidence against regulations or enforcement bodies' guidelines?

I believe in a fair world she should not only have suffered any financial loss, but also should get compensation for the delay.

However, a total refund of the second ticket will still be better than having to pay 75 EUR!

Any advice?

Thanks in advance.

I am only reading this on my phone so apologies if I have misread your post but from what I see , your sister was delayed because she failed to check in on time, is this correct? If this is the case I fail to see how eurostar are greatly in the wrong

Hello there.

I'm sorry to agree with ssparks' view, when I've travelled on Eurostar and the queues have been long, the staff have walked down the queues asking anyone who is booked for a train due to depart fairly shortly to identify themselves.

Did your sister approach a member of staff?

HB

Good afternoon,

I'm terribly sorry but I missed to provide feedback on the "case".

After complaining to Eurostar in January and Febrary 2017, Eurostar denied being responsible for the missed departure. This was even if my sister was present at the checkin desk as per the ticket's T&Cs.

There is in France a public dispute resolution bureau which accepts to handle this type of consumer claim. However, they charge a standard fee for all claims.

We presented a complaint to the Eurostar "médiateur" which did not accept the claim (as you would expect) and said Eurostar does not warn passengers.

On this basis we presented the complaint to the European "National Enforcement Body", with details of the ticket's T&C and the experienced issue.

They advised that the transport company must meet the obligation to notify passengers of the problems going on with the transport management. In other words, problems happenings at border and causing delays in checkins or departures must be notified to the passengers (text, email) so that they can adjust in consequence.

This is based on Rail passenger Rights - Regulation (EC) No 1371/2007 sections Delays and cancellations and Security, complaints andservicequality

Financially speaking this means a 50% compensation must be paid for the delay, plus a refund.

On this basis, a court claim was presented for the above payments and was settled by Eurostar.

"Know your rights".

Thank you for updating us with this. It is very useful information and well done on your victory.

It's a shame that companies like Eurostar need this rough treatment to get them to honour their consumer obligations.