British press sneers at Eurostar’s excuse of ‘fluffy snow’

Fluffy snow sounds like a weak excuse for five trains to break down inside a tunnel, trapping passengers in dank and dirty conditions for up to 12 hours, yet this is exactly the explanation Eurostar has given for the breakdown of five of its trains over the weekend and the continued cancelation of service between Paris and London. The Daily Mail implicity sneers at the excuse in its headline this morning. Apparently, very dry snow got past the train’s snow screens and into the locomotives. Once inside the tunnel, it was turned into condensation which caused the train’s electrical circuits to fail.

The Daily Mail also reports on one passengers two minute rant at Eurostar boss Richard Brown. Brown went to Saint Pancras on a PR exercise to boast that trains were expected to partially resume running today, the paper says.
One furious passenger Riad Ouled confronted Brown angrily asking him to explain why there was so little information provided to passengers. His tirade continued for two minutes before a frantic Eurostar press officer fought through gathered reporters and photographers to drag Mr. Borwn away.

Other stories in today’s international papers:

Wall Street Journal
If you can’t explain why you betrayed customers, please at least apologize

Wall Street Journal
In death, grand ayatollah could unify Iran’s opposition

Ettela’at
Leader expresses condolences on Ayatollah Montazeri’s departure The

Guardian
British Army ‘waterboarded’ suspects in the 70s

The Guardian
Icons of the decade