Stella gets stuck in the Channel Tunnel but still smiles

Stella McCartney boarded the 9.40am Eurostar on Friday November 28 only to be stuck in the Channel Tunnel for almost three hours and, following a series of further delays, headed straight back to London never having actually reached her destination in Paris. Hundreds of passengers suffered the journey which commenced with the train leaving St Pancras on time only to be held up outside the Channel Tunnel at 10.15am. After a fifteen minute wait the train entered the tunnel but came to a halt fifteen minutes later. The driver advised passengers there was a technical problem and that the power reserves were about to go. Passengers were then plunged into darkness, the PA system failed and, after two and a half hours, a Belgian train began to pull the Eurostar out of the Tunnel. The travellers finally emerged from the Tunnel at 2.15pm where they waited for another hour before a train arrived to take those wishing to return to London to Lille, and others on to Paris. Stella was smiling as the train pulled into Lille and joked that, "it's incredible. We have spent the whole day on the train and what do they offer us? Another ticket on the Eurostar!" She then quipped that she wanted to take a hovercraft next time, "or a chopper" and laughed that the longer the journey dragged on, the more passengers exaggerated the actual time delayed.

At Lille, disgruntled travellers were made to wait in an open space devoid of heating from 5.30pm UK time until just before 8pm when we finally boarded a train bound for London!