At completion of August my companion and I passed off 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 have been stop by security at Paris Gare du Nord and knowledgeable our batteries will surely not be permitted on the practice as “they were at risk of exploding”.
We stay in our very early 70s and previous to I scheduled I checked out the Eurostar assist on e-bikes meticulously. They are permitted, supplying they’re nabbed and alter with dimension calls for, which ours did.
We may not get hold of the security personnel to rework their minds so saved the batteries in left baggage to stop confiscation.
We missed our practice, nevertheless got with a ticket for a afterward one, nonetheless that didn’t make our hyperlink to Somerset.
The batteries deserve larger 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 difficulty with SNCF, the French nationwide practice agency. However, it knowledgeable me that security on the terminal isn’t its obligation
After a lot of weeks of telephone calls and e-mails it bought 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– on account of this blunder, and to rework the recommendations on its web website.
I will surely by no means ever have truly considered 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 well-liked setting of transportation, it’s worrying to hearken to data equivalent to this. I spoke to Eurostar and it has truly apologised and provided 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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