Eurostar under fire for refusing to offer Paris passengers chance to cancel trips without penalties

Train operator allowed travellers to switch to future dates - but option applies only to people booked up to this weekend

In the immediate aftermath of the Paris attacks, Eurostar allowed travelers to switch to future dates but only for a limited time (Getty)

Eurostar is facing a storm of criticism for refusing to offer passengers with forward bookings the chance to cancel or postpone their trips without penalty.

In the immediate aftermath of the Paris attacks, the cross-Channel train operator allowed travellers to switch to future dates. But this option applies only to people booked up to this weekend.

Changes for trips after that date incur a fee of £30 per person, per journey, plus any difference in fare. For a family of four, the fee alone amounts to £240 - possibly more than the tickets cost in the first place.

If passengers travelling on cheaper fares decide not to travel, they will lose the full value of the tickets. Because the Foreign Office is not warning against travel to France, Eurostar has no obligation to relax its normal fare rules and offer refunds.

When Gareth Pressley from Ayrshire decided to cancel his planned trip to Paris, he was given a refund by Disneyland Paris, by the Premier Inn near Ebbsfleet where he was planning to stay before his train, and by the parking provider at the Eurostar station. But Eurostar is declining to refund anyone travelling on a non-flexible ticket.

Mr Pressley told The Independent: “I am speechless at their attitude.”

Habib Rahmann was one of hundreds who took to Twitter or Facebook to vent their anger. He said: “Extremely disappointed with @Eurostar who failed to give a refund on my ticket to Paris and charging me to change the dates.”

Samuel Prebble tweeted to the train operator: “My nice little hotel in France has just given me a full refund. And you continue to rip me off! Happy with yourselves?”

Eurostar told passengers seeking a refund on Facebook to contact their travel insurer. But the Association of British Insurers told The Independent: “Cancellation due to what is termed ‘disinclination to travel’ is not covered by travel insurance.” It appears that not even the travel insurance sold by Eurostar itself covers the current circumstances.

A spokesman for Eurostar said: “We are operating a normal service, and are committed to continuing to provide a normal service for our customers, but we also understand that some passengers may choose not to travel straight away. Therefore to help give our customers flexibility in a difficult situation we introduced free exchanges to customers who have tickets to travel up to and including Sunday 22 November.

"Beyond that date all customers can exchange tickets for travel at a later date, in line with our normal policy.”