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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Charlie Jones

'Ludicrous' queues at Calais see band stage impromptu gig on roof of van

A band staged an impromptu gig on the roof of their van while stuck in lengthy queues at Calais yesterday.

Passengers waiting to cross the Channel with P&O Ferries faced delays, with some claiming they had to wait for up to seven hours.

One driver spotted a group unpacking their instruments, later capturing footage of the drummer set up on the roof, stool and all, while beating out a jazzy tune.

The keyboard player can be seen sitting up there as well, legs dangling off the side as he accompanies the drummer.

A third member of the band was spotted bringing his guitar out to join in.

Travellers stuck in the queues get out to watch the performance (@PeterNaldrett / Twitter)

Other travellers got out their cars to listen to the pop-up concert.

Posting the video to Twitter, the driver said: "Ludicrous queues at Calais BUT WE HAVE THIS. "

He identified the group as Bristol Street Music, often seen busking around the streets of the West Country city.

The band is made up of Alex Veitch on the keys, Samuel Fox on the bass and Chris Langton on the drums.

According to the group's social media feed, they have recently been performing in Marseilles.

Another queuer who spotted the performance said: "Utter carnage ⁦⁩ in Calais, but fair play to these brilliant musicians to lighten the 3 hours - so far - of mind numbing boredom and chaos."

Drummer Chris Langton set up on the roof of the transit (@PeterNaldrett / Twitter)

Some travellers claimed they had to wait up to seven hours in Calais to board the ferry.

Peter Naldrett, from Sheffield, who posted the video of the band was travelling back from France ahead of his son’s GCSE results day.

He .told the MailOnline : "We’ve been stuck in the queue trying to get back into the UK for nearly seven hours.

"The queues go beyond the ferry check-in and beyond the French border control.

"The French border control check took half a minute and most of the time they are sitting with nothing to do because the cars are not moving.

"The queues are going right up to the UK border controls."

Yesterday's queues weren't the only drama for people trying to cross the Channel this week.

Eurotunnel passengers told of "utter carnage" as they were trapped under the English Channel for nearly five hours after an incident stopped a train on Tuesday afternoon.

They were transferred to a cargo train but complained of being stuck in the sub-sea tunnel for nearly five hours, citing issues with the replacement transport as travellers were seen "panicking" and "freaking out" in the confined space.

The incident 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 alternative tunnel alongside the 31-mile rail route between Britain and France, some with suitcases and dogs.

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

Some people report being stuck for up to seven hours (@PeterNaldrett / Twitter)

Eurotunnel has said its services are back to normal after the incident.

A spokesperson for the service said: "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).

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

They continued: "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."

P&O Ferries declined to comment on the delays.

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