The spokesman added: “Due to the earlier train failure, we advise you not to travel to the terminal tonight.
“Please arrive tomorrow after 6 am.”
Michael Harrison, from Cranbrook, Kent, one of those on the evacuated train, told the PA news agency: “We came up to the crossing at 3.50pm, about 10 minutes with the lights going out and the train he stopped
Harrison said they were told they “had to investigate a problem with the wheels,” which “took about an hour and a half to investigate and obviously they didn’t find anything.”
“There were sparks of disbelief”
He said they “reset things” and left for another five minutes: “It happened again, at which point we waited another couple of hours to decide they didn’t see a problem, but needed to evacuate the train to another train
“After more waiting, we exited the train through the emergency link tunnel to the service tunnel.
“We then walked about 10 minutes to a train in front of the affected train.
“This was a coach carriage in which we were transported to Folkestone. Then the train stopped because it couldn’t get traction, presumably because it was long and there was no weight. There were gasps of disbelief when it was announced .
“We finally arrived at Folkestone six hours after embarkation.”
Another passenger who was evacuated, but did not want to be named, told PA that “several people were scared to be in the service tunnel, it’s a bit of a strange place”.
He added: “We were stuck down there for at least five hours.
“If I have one complaint it’s that they knew there were hundreds of people coming into Folkestone who hadn’t eaten for five, six or more hours and there was absolutely nothing here for us.
“Just big queues for Burger King.”
‘caught in the trap’
Journalist Bruce Atkinson, caught up in the delays in Calais, tweeted: “Sitting in the boarding queue at Calais with no idea how long we’ll be waiting. I’ve been here four hours so far.”