Christmas traffic: Travel chaos as M20 closed and Dover gridlocked amid train delays

A construction engineer from Hackney said the queues at St Pancras on Friday morning reminded him of the coronavirus pandemic. Lesie Smith, 60, said he “panicked a little” when he saw the news of cancellations on Thursday, but his train to Paris on Friday at 9.30am had not been delayed. Meanwhile, Bogdan and Irena Petris, from Plymouth, said they were “a bit anxious” on Thursday but when they heard by 11pm that the strikes were off, they felt “relief”.

The 50-year-olds were spending Christmas in Paris.

Passengers wait with their luggage at St Pancras station(AFP via Getty Images)

A French man received an email two hours before he was due to travel to Paris on Thursday saying his train had been cancelled. Valentin Walch and Pauline Cerceau, both 26, stayed at a friend’s home overnight but said they saw people who had slept at St Pancras after their travel plans were disrupted. The pair had been rebooked on a 2pm service on Friday and arrived at the London station at 7am to wait.

Mr Walch, a handball trainer from Chartres, said they were “stressed and a little bit angry” when they saw the email delaying their return to France after a visit to London.

He said: “We prefer to be here early.

We know some people who slept in the train station, we’re lucky we stayed at a friend’s.”

Passengers Valentin Walch and Pauline Cerceau,(PA)