French police haul British passenger from Eurostar for 'wearing wrong type of mask'

Travellers arriving from France on the Eurostar at St Pancras International railway station in London.
Travellers arriving from France on the Eurostar at St Pancras International railway station in London.
Yui Mok
Samantha Haynes

By Samantha Haynes


Published: 08/10/2021

- 12:07

Updated: 14/02/2023

- 11:34

Eight uniformed French police officers remove a British Eurostar passenger from the train

Armed French police arrested a British passenger on a London-bound Eurostar yesterday, after a train manager accused him of wearing 'the wrong type of mask'.

An unidentified man was removed from the train following an emergency stop in Lille, Northern France. The man is believed to be in his 40s and from Liverpool.


At least eight uniformed officers attended the arrest and removed the passenger from the train during its journey to England, leaving him stranded on the platform.

Eurostar requires all passengers to wear a mask onboard.

Other passengers on the service said to the Daily Mail that the train manager "took a dislike to the man" after speaking to him and ordered the service to stop so he could be arrested.

"I've done nothing wrong and respect all coronavirus rules – this is absolutely outrageous," he told the Daily Mail and was led away in front of other passengers.

He said: "I have absolutely no idea what this is all about, except that a Eurostar staff member has taken a very strong dislike to me, and accused me of not wearing the right type of mask.

"Now I'm going to be left alone in France, when all I wanted to do is get home from a work trip. This is very cruel treatment. We should all be getting on, not treating each other like this" added the man to the Daily Mail.

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