Biodun.BBC: Eurotunnel resuming normal service after delays

by Natalie de Vallieres and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Calais, France/Dover, UK

30 minutes ago

Eurotunnel services are returning to normal on Sunday after work overnight to clear a backlog following disruption caused by migrants.

There were delays of up to five hours on Saturday after migrants entered its terminal in France on Friday night.
Eurotunnel says there is now a 30-minute waiting time to board in Kent. Services from Calais are on schedule.
Passengers have been advised to arrive on time when they travel on Sunday, rather than turning up early.

'Migrant activity'

Eurotunnel services have been hit by strikes and migrants trying to stow away on lorries, in their attempts to cross from France to the UK, for several weeks.
Shortly before midnight on Friday, Eurotunnel briefly suspended services after migrants accessed the Eurotunnel terminal on the French side.
The operator said this "migrant activity" caused a backlog of delays, on top of traffic issues, which it worked through on Saturday and overnight into Sunday.
The latest travel updates:

Eurotunnel says there is a waiting time of 30 minutes on the terminal because of the high volume of traffic there
P&O Ferries says, which earlier had delays, says services from Dover and Calais are running on time, with limited space available
DFDS Seaways earlier warned of delays but says all services are now operating on time
Eurostar services are running on time

Lorries have now been parked on the M20 for a total of 19 days over the past three months

John Keefe, Eurotunnel spokesman, told the BBC a normal service was now being run and any remaining delays were being caused by the large volume of traffic to the Eurotunnel site, in part because of Operation Stack.
The operation involves the parking - or stacking - of lorries on the M20 in Kent when cross-Channel services are disrupted.
It means the M20 is closed to non-freight traffic between junctions eight and 11.
Lorries have now been parked on the motorway for a total of 19 days over the past three months.
It is hoped the remainder of the backlog will be cleared on Sunday morning.
Passengers have been advised to check for traffic updates before travelling and not turn up early, to avoid too many people crowding the terminal.
On the issue of migrants, Mr Keefe said Eurotunnel had already spent 13m euros (£9.2m) on security in the first six months of the year - more than its usual 10m euros (£7.1m) annual budget.