Can't help thinking that, until they have a simple 'pay and go' one price ticket, Eurotunnel won't succeed
Yes Beagle. I live in northern France, so know all about EuroTunnel's stupid ticket prices. The problem is that they think they are running an airline!! ET are always targeting the airlines with their advertising, yet their management hardly run the company in the same professional manner. Look at the recent debacle when a train got stuck underground and the ex Tory Transport Minister Steven Norris was in one of the carriages. Incompetence and very poor safety practices and it will get worse now that it is a French company!
Anyone who has used EuroTunnel recently returning from France, probably faced long queues at the UK immigration booths. Many passengers miss their trains because the queues frequently stretch back beyond the French 'security'(sic). There are eight lanes available, but a UK Immigration Officer at Dunkerque last week told me that ET will only pay for two to be staffed. This is the minimum number. Even the immigration officers get caught up in the mess as they travel on the Tunnel back and forth each day!
The other thing which is an absolute disgrace, is how the British government stood by and allowed the French to gain control of EuroTunnel. It started in July 2004 when at a Shareholders meeting in France, the Anglo/ French board were voted off after a few French hot heads like convicted fraudster and amateur share tipster Nicholas Miguet, promised the shareholders the earth. None of these promises were fulfilled, the shareholders were just used as pawns.
Also the French government started a US style Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Sauveguard plan via the Paris Commercial Court, just so that ET would not fall into the hands of the senior creditors like Oaktree Capital Management. With Chapter 11 in the 'States,a company has to have a hope of being able to trade its way out of debt. That was never the case with EuroTunnel, it was pure French protectionism.
It was the right of the senior tier creditors to takeover EuroTunnel, if the company could no longer service its interest payments. The senior creditors were mainly British and American financial institutions!!
EuroTunnel has been trading whilst insolvent since it started running trains.It is still bankrupt.All the other companies competiting with it on the Dover Straits, have to play against a different set of rules.
EuroTunnel is Europe's ENRON.
Where ENRON created companies to hide its U$30bn worth of losses, ET has hidden its debt in restructuring; creating different tiers of debt, mezzanine debt, loan notes and other financial instruments. It is all creative accounting. The debt is still there.