‘Absolute mayhem’: Eurostar passengers tell of stress and tears

Those affected decry disgusting' lack of communication, while others had to pay 1,000 to travel the next day

What promised to be a romantic New Year's Eve in Paris ended in tears and travel trauma for Sean Winterbottom and his partner, Amy. The couple were among about 30,000 passengers to have their Eurostar journey cancelled on Saturday because of a flooded tunnel under the Thames.

We were going to go for a flash dinner and ... we had bookings, hotel reservations and everything," Sean said of the trip they had been looking forward to for months.