At completion of August my companion and I befell a biking trip in France with our folding e-bikes. We handed by Eurostar and had no fear en route out.
However, on the return journey we had been stop by security at Paris Gare du Nord and knowledgeable our batteries will surely not be permitted on the prepare as “they were at risk of exploding”.
We stay in our very early 70s and previous to I scheduled I checked out the Eurostar help on e-bikes meticulously. They are permitted, supplying they’re nabbed and modify with dimension calls for, which ours did.
We may not receive the protection personnel to rework their minds so saved the batteries in left baggage to forestall confiscation.
We missed our prepare, nevertheless got with a ticket for a afterward one, nonetheless that didn’t make our hyperlink to Somerset.
The batteries deserve higher than ₤ 1,000, so I grumbled to Eurostar and tried to acquire it to schedule them to be moved to St Pancras for us to build up.
It knowledgeable me to extend a problem with SNCF, the French nationwide prepare agency. However, it knowledgeable me that security on the terminal shouldn’t be its obligation
After a lot of weeks of telephone calls and e-mails it obtained to the issue the place we felt we had no possibility nevertheless to make a journey again to Paris (by car and ferryboat) to acquire the batteries.
I need Eurostar to repay us for all the prices sustained– nearly ₤ 1,000– because of this blunder, and to rework the options on its web website.
I will surely by no means ever have truly thought of taking a visit with our e-bikes if I had truly understood there was a hazard of confiscation
CS, Bridgwater
With e-bikes a considerably most popular setting of transportation, it’s worrying to take heed to data reminiscent of this. I spoke to Eurostar and it has truly apologised and equipped to completely reimburse the added costs you sustained.
“Foldable e-bikes and their batteries are permitted on our services,” it states. “Unfortunately, an error occurred in this instance, and we sincerely regret the difficulties it caused. We are addressing this with the security provider at Paris Gare du Nord to ensure all contracted staff are fully aligned with our policies on restricted and prohibited items.”
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