Belgian strike cripples Eurostar service

Almost all the Eurostar services between the UK and Brussels scheduled to run tomorrow have been cancelled because of industrial action in Belgium.

The 24-hour strike will start at 10pm today, causing considerable disruption throughout Belgium. A train due to leave London at 7.34pm has been brought forward to 5.27pm, in order to arrive in Brussels before the start of the strike.

Tomorrow, the only Eurostar train running between the cities will be the 7.34pm from London.

It is also unlikely that there will be any high-speed onward rail connections from Brussels to destinations in France, Holland and Germany.

A spokesman for Eurostar said: "A revised Eurostar timetable will be in operation on Eurostar's London-Brussels route, with trains running between Lille Europe station and the UK only.

"A very limited coach service will operate between Lille and Brussels and demand is expected to be high. As a result, journey times will increase significantly (by approximately two hours).

"We would therefore recommend that customers planning to travel between Belgium and the UK during this period postpone their journeys if possible."

Customers are able to exchange their Eurostar tickets free of charge within 60 days for a journey in the next 120 days. For more information, visit http://www.eurostar.com or contact 08432 186 186.