Christmas travel: Eurostar runs extra trains from St Pancras after strikes and Euston station chaos

Eurostar is running extra trains from St Pancras International on Friday following a day of disrupted travel.

Cross-channel services were thrown into chaos by an unexpected strike by French Eurotunnel staff, which saw at least 30 Eurostar trains cancelled on Thursday.

Meanwhile at Euston station a fault to overhead lines saw all trains cancelled, leaving hundreds stranded in London throughout Thursday evening.

The damage was fixed by 1.30am on Friday morning. However, some residual disruption due to strong winds caused by Storm Pia could still occur, Network Rail has warned, with passengers being urged to check before travel.

Eurostar has promised to run six extra trains between Paris and London into the weekend – an extra two trains each on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Over the weekend millions of people across the UK are set to make their Christmas getaway journeys.

The RAC estimated 13.5 million leisure journeys by car would take place across the UK between Friday and Sunday, up 20% on the three days before Christmas Day last year.

Road congestion is likely to peak on Friday – the last working day before Christmas Day – as drivers embarking on leisure trips compete for road space with commuters and business traffic.

Motorists were being advised to travel before 11am or after 6pm if possible to reduce the chance of being stuck in long queues.

Likely traffic hotspots on the M25 identified by transport analysis company Inrix include clockwise between junction 7 (for the M23/Gatwick Airport) and junction 16 (for the M40/Birmingham), and anti-clockwise between junction 17 (Rickmansworth) and junction 12 (for the M3).

London Heathrow is also expecting its busiest day of the winter season on Friday, with an estimated 250,000 people flying from the airport.

Flights at the airport were delayed or cancelled on Thursday as a result of Storm Pia, while British Airways has cancelled a further 20 flights on Friday.

Heathrow Airport will have no Heathrow Express services to or from central London between Christmas Eve and December 27.