Great Rail Journeys has turned to alternative services to protect their customers’ festive breaks during the disruption to Eurostar services.

Coaches and ferries have been brought into service to get tour groups to the continent to continue their holiday by rail, as well as to bring home-bound passengers back to the UK. Some customers have even been flown to join their festive breaks in Europe.

“Our Commercial and operations teams have worked tirelessly since Friday 17 December when the first Eurostar cancellations were made,” says Commercial Director David Gaster.

“Even with the cancelled Eurostar services, we have managed to provide almost 400 customers with their festive holidays over the last two days and will continue to use alternative means of transport until Eurostar services resume.”

Flybe, the UK’s biggest domestic airline and one of Europe’s largest regional airlines, has stepped into the breach again; increasing capacity on its services to assist stranded Eurostar passengers over Christmas.

Flybe have laid on larger aircraft from both Birmingham and Southampton to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport for the next four days in the run up to the holidays.

Commenting on the increased capacity, Flybe’s Chief Commercial Officer Mike Rutter said: “Flybe understands how important it is to get travellers to their destination over Christmas. We pride ourselves on being able to respond when the chips are down. We did so when the Channel Tunnel was closed by fire last year and we’re proud to be doing so again after Eurostar’s condensation problems. There are a limited number of extra tickets available and to avoid further disappointment; I would advise passengers to book as soon as possible on www.flybe.com

Live updates from Eurostar – see the latest information on Eurostar delays due to bad weather and the closing of the service