On Friday’s (March 7) episode of Good Morning Britain, Charlotte Hawkins unexpectedly interrupted the programme to relay urgent “breaking” news concerning travel disruptions.
The presenter highlighted an emergency situation in Paris where Gare du Nord station has ceased all train activity after the discovery of an unexploded World War II bomb.
“Some breaking news, Eurostar services and all other trains have been halted this morning at Gare du Nord, France’s busiest station as police work to disable an unexploded World War II bomb,” declared Charlotte.
“It was found in the middle in the tracks in the area of Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris, during overnight works on the tracks. Four trains from London St Pancras station have been cancelled so far, as have the first six departing Paris for London. Eurostar are advising passengers to change their journey for a different date of travel.”
Following her update, Charlotte handed the segment over to Simon Calder, a travel expert, for further insights into the impact of the incident, reports the Manchester Evening News.
He conveyed the severity of the situation by acknowledging, “It’s really difficult. We haven’t got any trains leaving London… The first departure from Paris won’t be until this afternoon, if that goes. Clearly they’re trying to work and clear this as soon as possible.
“The problem is that services are extremely heavily booked on Fridays, it is the busiest day of the week for Eurostar, which shuffles tens of thousands of passengers everyday through the Channel Tunnel, to and from London St Pancras International. If this was actually a flight issue then people would be able to rebook an alternative airline.”
Simon went on to note the inconvenience this could cause: “Unfortunately it doesn’t work in the opposite direction, so really sadly all those people who have romantic weekends booked in Paris, they may well have to be looking at completely different plans, cancelling hotels and seeing if their travel insurance can help.”
The finding was made overnight in the commune of Saint-Denis in Paris. After the incident was reported, the operators of Eurostar suspended the service and advised passengers to modify their travel plans.
“Due to an object on the tracks near Paris Gare du Nord, we are expecting disruption to our services this morning. Please change your journey for a different date of travel,” a company statement said.
France’s train operator, SNCF, announced that it would comply with a police request and services to and from Paris Gare du Nord would be halted until later.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays on ITV1 and ITVX at 6am