Dreams of a York to Paris express looked to be finally heading for the buffers today after Eurostar bosses admitted they had offered voluntary redundancy to 30 train drivers.

Eurostar spokesman Roger Harrison denied the offer to the drivers, who would have operated trains from the regions, including the North of England, was the final nail in the coffin of the continental express. But he admitted Eurostar wanted to concentrate on its London to Europe service and did not want to run the regional links. It would do so only if forced to by the Government, he said.

The Department of Transport, Environment and the Regions is expected to appoint a consultant soon to look into the whole issue.

Mr Harrison said the decision to offer voluntary redundancy to the drivers had been taken for commercial reasons. But the seven Eurostar trains, which would run services from the regions, are not to be sold, at least at this stage.

York MP Hugh Bayley said today the Channel Tunnel had been built with taxpayers' money - and taxpayers from the north of England had as much right to expect a service to the continent as those from London.

He said Eurostar was worried a service to the north would not be commercially viable because 90 per cent of passengers from Europe would probably get off in London leaving trains empty for the rest of their journey. He said they should consider "sharing" trains with GNER, whose services were overcrowded.

But a GNER spokesman said today while the idea was "interesting", they wanted their own trains.

see COMMENT 'Eurostar casts aside the north'

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