Christmas rail travel chaos as Euston services cancelled and Eurostar hit by strike – as it happened

Time to wrap up…..

Christmas getaway journeys have been ruined for tens of thousands of people today after cross-Channel rail services were suspended due to an unexpected strike in France, while technical problems hit the West Coast main line from Euston.

The industrial action is affecting Eurostar – which operates passenger services to and from London St Pancras – and Eurotunnel Le Shuttle, which runs vehicle-carrying trains to and from Folkestone.

At least 24 Eurostar trains have been cancelled.

Eurostar said in a statement:

“Due to unexpected strike action by Eurotunnel staff, services are currently not able to proceed through the Channel Tunnel until mid-afternoon at earliest.”

Four trains were forced to return to their starting point.

Eurostar cancelled all services before 7pm.

Passengers booked on the three trains due to operate after that time were warned that “we cannot exclude additional last-minute cancellations, which may include your train”.

Getlink, which owns the Channel Tunnel and operates Eurotunnel Le Shuttle services, said:

“Today’s call for strike action by representatives of Eurotunnel’s French site staff unions has resulted in the complete interruption of service and the closure of our terminals in France and the UK.”

The company reportedly added that trade unions had rejected an offer of a bonus worth €1,000 (£867) per employee, demanding a payment worth three times as much.

Strong winds were also disrupting the Christmas getaway on Britain’s domestic railway.

Damage to the overhead electric wires between Milton Keynes and Watford meant all lines between those stations were blocked.

This was affecting Avanti West Coast services between London Euston and Scotland, leading to delays and cancellations to many towns and cities on the west.

Here’s the rest of today’s news:

Gwyn Topham

UK drivers were warned today to be “very cautious” on Britain’s roads after forecasts of strong winds and rain that threaten to cause long delays at the start of the Christmas getaway.

The worst of the weather will occur this afternoon, shortly after term time finished for many schools in the south of England, with traffic on the roads expected to increase and peak on Friday.

According to motoring organisations road congestion could be worse than last year. The RAC expected 13.5m “leisure” journeys to be made by car between Friday and Christmas Eve. The AA said that more than two in five motorists are expected to be on the roads on Friday.

More here:

Jeremy Hunt signs financial services deal with Switzerland

Phillip Inman

Over in Bern, Switzerland, UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt has signed a financial services deal which is aimed at easing UK firms’ access to the Swiss market, and vice versa.

The UK will work with the Swiss financial authorities to strengthen international financial standards, Hunt says.

The tie-up with Switzerland will also help level the playing field for smaller firms, “who will no longer have to invest time and money in navigating unfamiliar Swiss rules,” Hunt said.

The outline of a deal was announced yesterday, but Hunt gave some more details at a press conference in Berne with his Swiss counterpart, Karin Keller-Sutter.

The chancellor said financial advisors will also benefit, as British financial advisers to high-net-worth individuals will no longer need to be registered by Swiss registration bodies to serve Swiss clients.

Hunt explains:

“This will remove requirements to sit Swiss examinations or provide documentation evidencing suitability, cutting red tape for the UK’s financial advisory industry.”

Between 2016 and 2022, UK trade in financial and insurance services with Switzerland grew by 53% – reaching £3.28 billion in 2022, according to Treasury figures.

Hunt said the Berne Financial Services Agreement is “only possible due to new freedoms granted to the UK following its exit from the European Union”.

Away from the chaos on the railways, credit rating agency Fitch has downgraded one of Thames Water’s holding companies.

Fitch Ratings has downgraded company Kemble Water Finance Limited’s debt rating to ‘CCC’ from ‘B’.

CCC is a low credit rating, applied to debt which is seen as highly speculative and at a high risk of default.

Fitch says the downgrade reflects the risk that Kemble will need to renegotiate the terms of a £190m loan which must be refinanced in April 2024, at terms that “could be viewed as a distressed debt exchange”.

Fitch also points to “rising liquidity pressure” due to increased regulatory and political scrutiny of the dividend distribution from Thames Water Utilities Limited up to Kemble.

Watchdog Ofwat is already considering whether to investigate Thames for a potential breach of its licence when it paid a £37.5m dividend in October.

Under Thames’ convoluted corporate structure (see details here), Kemble Water Finance Limited is the UK incorporated company set up to raise debt to buy Thames Water in 2006. It can receive dividends from Thames Water, to service those debts.

Fitch also warns that Kemble faces “material challenges beyond the next few months”, and that a strong operational turnaround at Thames Water would be needed “to improve profitability and the prospects for future dividend distribution to Kemble”.

More rail disruption has struck passengers in the UK, with trains out of London Euston are being cancelled and delayed due to a fault on the line.

Engineers have been assessing the damage after a serious fault was detected on the overhead wires at Watford Junction, seemingly caused by a bag caught in the overhead power line between Stoke and Crewe.

Network Rail have tweeted a photo of the bag, and say they are using drones to assess the damage.

This is leading to trains from London to Chester, Birmingham, Crewe, Edinburgh, Manchester and Liverpool to be cancelled or delayed (see more details here).

Only services to Watford Junction (which is south of the disruption) are running, it seems.

Reuters economics reporter (and friend of the liveblog) Andy Bruce reports that he may be on the train that caused the damage: