People hoping to travel from France to Kent faced lengthy delays due to chaos caused by an incident on a Eurotunnel train.

Multiple services into the country are impacted after a train broke down inside the tunnel yesterday.

Passengers were forced to disembark – leaving 100 vehicles behind – and walk to a passenger transport.

Numerous people reported being stuck on the affected train for almost five hours, citing issues with the replacement train.

The initial breakdown late on Tuesday affected the 3.50pm Eurotunnel Le Shuttle service from Calais to Folkestone and led to hundreds of passengers being ushered into a service tunnel.

Videos on social media showed holidaymakers walking through the alternate tunnel alongside the 31-mile rail route between Britain and France, some with suitcases and dogs.

Meanwhile travellers in Calais were told to stay away from the terminal until 6am today, with pictures showing gridlock at the shuttle terminal late into Tuesday evening.

Eurotunnel has insisted that services are "back to normal", although monitors show they are running at a delay of around least two and a half hours.

The company defended the time taken to resolve the incident, saying operations such as this “do take time” but are for the safety of everyone and “must be conducted carefully”.

A spokesman said on Wednesday morning: “All services are back to normal, with no waiting for passengers on site.

“The incident followed an alarm on board a shuttle carrying 100 vehicles. The shuttle was brought to a controlled stop and inspected. As a precautionary measure, for their safety and comfort, we transferred the passengers on board to another shuttle, via the service tunnel (which is there for exactly that purpose).

“Unfortunately that means other customers can suffer extended crossing times, as was the case last night. However, we put on additional departures to try to reduce that as much as possible.

"By 6am on Wednesday, everyone who was caught up in the incident had been carried across, diversions removed, and we are now back to normal services.

“Whilst some passengers experienced a longer journey than planned, everyone was kept safe at all times.

“We apologise to anyone who got caught up in the incident, but we stress that we will always put customer safety above everything.”

“Operations like this do take time, but they are for the safety of everyone and must be conducted carefully.

Many passengers have turned to ferry services to try and get home, however this has lead to lengthy delays at the ports.

P&O Ferries have apologised for long wait times, saying that each ferry is waiting for "as long as possible" to ensure as many people as possible can board.