Eurostar is cutting dozens of jobs and reducing daily services by the end of this year, it has been revealed in the wake of falling passenger numbers.

But the company has not yet disclosed how services or jobs at Kent’s two international stations will be affected as part of the changes.

The cross-channel high speed train operator confirmed some 80 jobs will be lost throughout the business with ticket sales down 3% on last year.

In an interview with a French newspaper, Eurostar chief executive Nicolas Petrovic put the fall down to the Paris terror attacks, Brexit and the migrant crisis.

He said the attacks on the French capital had had the biggest effect with Brexit only causing problems during the referendum campaign while effective new security in Calais had stemmed the problem in 2015 with the migrant crisis in France.

It is not yet known how this will impact on the company’s employees at its Ebbsfleet and Ashford bases.

"We are having to cut jobs and what we’re offering first is voluntary redundancy. It will be happening this year." Eurostar spokesman

A new timetable which will be published in December is expected to see a reduced number of Eurostar’s daily services.

There are six direct weekday services between Paris and Ashford and 11 which call at Ebbsfleet to and from the French capital.

It also operates one return service per day direct to Brussels via Lille from Ashford and four return trains via Ebbsfleet during the week.

The operator also runs 13 Saturday services to Paris and Brussels stopping at Ebbsfleet with 16 on a Sunday and seven call at Ashford on both weekend days.

A spokesman for Eurostar said: “We are having to cut jobs and what we’re offering first is voluntary redundancy. It will be happening this year.

“It’s far too early to say on Ebbsfleet and Ashford.

“This is a challenging environment for all travel companies and we need to manage our costs very carefully. That’s why we are looking at the size and shape of our business.

“We are committed to minimising the impact of these changes on our colleagues and our current focus is on managing any reductions through voluntary redundancies and sabbaticals as much as possible.”

The company is still planning to roll out its new London to Amsterdam service and earlier this year introduced a new fleet of trains.