Campaign History

So much has happened since the campaign to save Ashford International began and so much support has been given, the response has been amazing. But you don’t need to take our word for it: have a look at the campaign history below, going right back to Eurostar’s original announcement from September 12^th 2006, to find out more.

N.B. We have put the stories in reverse order so if you want to start with Eurostar’s original the oldest stories, you must to to the bottom of the entry. Newer stories, as they emerge, will be filed on our website over the coming weeks.

It is now mid-June and, in less the 5 months since we launched our petition to save Ashford International Brussels services from closure, the petition has reached over 11,000 signatures and we continue to attract support from business, community leaders and politicians from across Kent and south east England.

June 11th: with the BBC reporting that the petition has now gained over 11,000 signatures, MPs and campaigners meet Rail Minister Tom Harris and relay their concerns about Eurostar’s proposals for Ashford. According to Ashford MP Damian Green, Mr Harris “listened sympathetically” and promises to speak to Eurostar again.

June 1st: Alan Williams, the respected rail columnist writing in the industry magazine Modern Railways, brings to his readers’ attention the “vociferous local campaign” to save Ashford International and he labels Eurostar ” a company seriously out of touch with its customers”.Mr Williams’s comments followed the “gigaloads” of angry emails he received from Eurostar customers who were left stranded by the company back in March when a fire in south London closed part of the line for 24 hours. Some of the “more cynical” emails even suggested that Eurostar had preferred to leave passengers stuck in France and Belgium, rather than running trains to Ashford, because they didn’t want to show how useful Ashford was.

May 14^th: investigative paper Private Eye asks the question all Ashford Eurostar passengers have been asking since September 2006: why, when Eurostar is making so much effort to “to reduce its carbon footprint and help its travellers to do the same… is it preparing to force travellers into cars, and possibly even planes, by slashing services from Ashford?

May 6^th: Ashford Borough Council welcomes rumours in the press that airlines Air France and KLM may set up a rival service to Eurostar.

April 27^th: Eurostar announces that it is going on a 50-city tour of the UK to showcase the benefits of Britain’s first high-speed railway. Although the full list of cities is not given, it is assumed that Ashford will not be on their list.

April 8^th, Easter Sunday: “Eurostar won’t listen to what passengers want”, is the conclusion of Kent on Sunday newspaper, as it reports on the growing pressure on Eurostarfrom frustrated MPs and travelers.

April 3^rd: the passenger petition, now signed by over 8,000 people is taken to Eurostar by a cross-party delegation of Kent MPs, local councilors and the campaign group Railfuture. The presentation attracts a large amount of radio, TV and newspaper coverage as the MPs are refused the right to film on Waterloo station. Local MPs Gwyn Prosser, Damian Green, Roger Gale and Michael Foster are interviewed on BBC South East Today and

Meridian.

Eurostar’s Director of Communication, Simon Montague, does little to restore Eurostar’s reputation with its customers by claiming that the petition only represents 0.01% of Eurostar’s passengers.

MPs Damian Green and Gwyn Prosser subsequently pen some reflections on the day and on Eurostar’s attitude to the passenger petition.

April 3^rd: over 50 senior political figures, business and community leaders from across Kent and the South East of England, sign a letter to the Daily Telegraph, outlining how Eurostar’s proposals for Ashford are a “major blow to the Government’s regeneration plans for east Kent”. The letter makes clear the strong, cross-party political support for the retention of Ashford Eurostar services.

March 14^th: Euro MP Peter Skinner launches an online version of the petition at <a href=http://www.saveashfordeurostar.eu/ target=”_blank”> http://www.saveashfordeurostar.eu/</a> .

March 13^th: Eurostar, having claimed since September 2006 that 2/3 of Ashford passengers would prefer to travel from the new Ebbsfleet station, suddenly admits to a Brussels-based magazine that their statistic was not based on a survey of real passengers.

March 7^th: Rail Minister, Tom Harris, is asked again by local MPs to intervene with Eurostar during a House of Commons debate dedicated to the Ashford issue. Mr Harris admits he has previously raised concerns with Eurostar’s Chief Executive and also offers to meet a delegation of MPs and local campaigners.

March 1^st: the rail industry magazine, Modern Railways, devotes a long feature to the new high-speed line in the UK. A report of a recent speech by Richard Brown, Chief Executive of Eurostar, quotes him describing Ashford as “very peripheral”.

February 27^th: Kent, Hampshire and West Sussex County Councils give their support to the passenger petition.

February 26^th: rail campaign group, Railfuture, lend their support to the Ashford International campaign, placing a copy of the petition on their website and featuring the campaign in their newsletter.

February: Edith does her first local radio interviews.

January 2007: the passenger petition to save Ashford International is launched. The Kentish Express reports it in their local edition for Ashford.

December 7^th: Kent County Council and local authority for Northern France, the Nord-Pas de Calais Regional Council – themselves concerned about threats to Calais and Lille high-speed stations, take their concerns to Brussels.

November 14^th: Eurostar have a second attempt at a press launch, this time to mark the countdown to the opening of St Pancras, scheduled for November 14^th 2007. The papers

are more gentle, marveling at the re-birth of St Pancras and highlighting how new high-speed lines in Europe will boost demand for rail. The Times also reports how Eurostar and other rail companies in Europe are integrating their ticketing, so passengers only have to buy one ticket rather than several, and how they are harmonizing timetables to reduce transfer times at junction stations.

In the days that follow, a number of passengers are less impressed. Letters to the Times and the Independent point out the difficulties passengers from Waterloo and Ashford will face from Eurostar’s proposed changes. They also highlight the contradiction between Eurostar’s proposals and their green intentions.

30^th October: a member of the European Parliament, Sharon Bowles, organizes a demonstration outside Ashford International and launches her own campaign website.

27^th October: Passenger Focus, the UK’s independent rail consumer watchdog, slams Eurostar for its unacceptable proposals and calls for a direct service form Ashford to Brussels to be maintained.

25th October: in a debate in the House of Commons Ashford MP, Damian Green, reminds Rail minister, Tom Harris of the billions of public investment supporting the construction of the high-speed rail line in the UK

25^th October: Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes, is the latest MP to tell Richard Brown to reconsider. He reminds Mr Brown of the money spent to improve coastway rail services between Brighton and Ashford, all of which will be undermined by Eurostar’s decision.

October 16^th: Kent County Council’s cabinet endorses a report calling for a wide partnership “to press Eurostar to retain a proper Brussels service between Ashford and Brussels”

October 12^th 2007: one month after Eurostar dropped its Ashford bombshell, local MP for Ashford, Damian Green, and former Conservative leader Michael Howard, take a delegation of local authority representatives to see Eurostar. Richard Brown, the Chief Executive of Eurostar, apparently bows to pressure and promises to share the research on which the decision to condemn Ashford was based.

October 11^th: Hastings MP and Labour Euro-MP, Peter Skinner, raise their concerns with the Eurostar Chief Executive, Richard Brown, pointing out that businesses have come to Ashford on the strength of the international links

October 8th: Transport Minister Stephen Ladyman, himself a local Kent MP, adds his weight to the campaign, saying on his constituency website that Eurostar should have consulted more widely and should keep faith with its existing customers.

September 19^th 2006: Michael Foster, MP for Hastings, writes to Eurostar to complain about their foolish proposals, pointing out the economic impact their decision will have on Hastings and south Kent.

September 12^th 2006: Eurostar chooses the press launch of Ebbsfleet station to try and bury the bad news that it wishes to end direct Ashford to Brussels services when Ebbsfleet station opens in November 2007. Unfortunately for Eurostar, the journalists were all paying attention and drew the obvious conclusions in articles in The Times and the Telegraph.