BTilke

We called Eurostar's Carte Blanche service this morning about our week-end tix; they didn't yet know what the week-end's train service would be like. They were happy to take us up on our offer to change our travel date to later this month (if the trains do run, they can give our seats to someone else). Although we had discounted, non-refundable Leisure Select seats, we had no problems changing them. And, in the agent's own words, "unfortunately" there were no Leisure Select seats left for the later trains we wanted, so we had to be bumped up to Business Premier.

FWIW, the CB person we spoke to said trucks were not supposed to be carrying hazardous chemicals through the Tunnel...might be some lawsuits down the road.

Not a good week-end to be traveling to from the UK, what with Eurostar problems and the XL collapse; at least the weather is allowing the ferries to run as normal (knock wood).

Fra_Diavolo

Isn't it inflammable? Used to be.

Found this on wikipedia, quoting Strunk & White:

Flammable. An oddity, chiefly useful in saving lives. The common word meaning "combustible" is inflammable. But some people are thrown off by the in- and think inflammable means "not combustible." For this reason, trucks carrying gasoline or explosives are now marked FLAMMABLE.

Should we degrade our language just to save lives?

If we can save just one word, isn't it worth dozens of lives?

bellini

I have a question- why would the brakes set on fire? The lorries' engines are turned off and they are loaded on to a train to go thru the tunnel?

hetismij

According to the BBC the lorry contained phenol, and it somehow overturned on the freight train. I can't see how it could have done that but that is what they are saying.

hetismij

Oh, and the brakes overheat, which causes the tyre to explode which can set the cab/trailer on fire.

According to another report (on the Torygraph website)it was lucky the lorry was isolated from the others or it would have been much worse - it says others were carrying phenol and carbolic acid, not that the lorry which caught fire was carrying phenol - but clearly dangerous chemicals are allowed through the tunnel.
Interestingly LPG powered cars are not.

Alec

I should have sid diesel is less flammable than petrol (gasoline), so causes less hazard in a fire in a confined space.

caroline_edinburgh

BTlke, the XL collapse ?

I also heard the lorry overturned & wondered how that was possible - I wouldn't have thought there is room.

caroline_edinburgh

Sorry BTilke, just realised. I'd only heard the XL thing mentioned on the radio & hadn't thought of it being spelled like that ! Quite a few people here affected by the Zoom collapse too.

alanRow

Good job none of us are the sort who take the early morning Eurostar to London in order to get a flight home that day