Eurostar passengers face a third day of misery today - Monday - with all services cancelled thanks to a forecast of more snow in France and tests on the trains.

There are also problems on Eurotunnel thanks to poor conditions in France stopping staff getting to work.

It has closed its Folkestone passenger check-in after being overwhelmed by people who were going to be travelling on Eurostar.

It says it will review the situation once the traffic backlog has cleared.

Anyone booked on the service should check with its website before setting out. A normal freight service is continuing.

SeaFrance is carrying cars and passengers transferred from Eurotunnel and the firm has also offered to help stranded Eurostar passengers and has made extra space available. LD Lines' Dover - Boulogne service will additionally be carrying foot passengers on certain advertised sailings to help.

Meanwhile, roads around Folkestone and Dover are very icy, with many motorists finding it impossible to get up any hills, particularly around Hawkinge. Large traffic jams developed on roads around the A20 near the village in rush hour this morning as drivers slid down hills and failed to get up them.

The rest of Kent's main roads are getting back to normal, and Operation Stack was cancelled at 2.40am this morning.

* Eurostar says that as a result of the test runs conducted on Sunday it believes it has established the cause of the failure of its trains. The company is blaming "acute" weather conditions in northern France for the disruption. It says every year it carries out a ‘winterisation’ programme of the entire fleet which until now has worked successfully.

But in a statement Eurostar said: "We now know, however, that we need to further enhance the snow screens and snow shields in the power cars of the trains."

The company has apologised for the disruption and delays to travellers that saw thousands of people trapped in trains in the Channel Tunnel. The company has also announced it has commissioned an independent review in the problems.

The review, which will start immediately, will be led by Christopher Garnett - former chief executive of GNER and formerly commercial director of Eurotunnel - in conjunction with a French inspector.

A company statement added: "We strongly advise passengers whose travel is non-essential to change their booking to a later date or claim a refund on their tickets. For customers who have been unable to travel over the last few days, Eurostar will cover the cost of out-of pocket expenses, for example, hotels and taxis.

Eurostar says it will update information on its services at 6pm on Monday.

The Port of Dover is open but cross-Channel ferries are subject to a delay of around one hour.