Mother ‘gutted’ after Make-A-Wish trip cancelled

A mother has been left “gutted” after a Make-A-Wish trip to Disneyland Paris for her terminally ill daughter Daisy, five, was cancelled due to disruption to Eurostar services following the discovery of an unexploded bomb.

Toni Mannion, 38, said she had been “looking forward to making some special memories”, but was unable to take alternative transport to France with her daughter who has complex needs.

The World War Two explosive, found near Gare du Nord station in Paris, was defused on Friday afternoon – with commuters being told to expect normal services on Saturday.

Eurostar’s chief safety and stations officer Simon Lejeune said he was “incredibly sorry” for the travel disruption.

Five-year old Daisy has a rare metabolic disorder called Nonketotic hyperglycinemia (NKH). She uses a wheelchair, is non-verbal and has severe epilepsy.

Ms Mannion travelled from Birmingham to London on Thursday with Dasiy, her one-year-old daughter Lara, her mother and a friend.

“We’ve been planning this for such a long time. Make-A-Wish charity paid for everything from start to finish.

“We were really looking forward to making some special memories with the girls. I know Make-A-Wish will look to reorganise. But it’s still a bit gutting really.

“I cried, we all cried. We’ve been really looking forward to it. Her [Daisy’s] life is limited, we just never know how long we’ve got left with her.

“We wanted to make some really nice memories.”

Many Britons found themselves stuck on the other side of the Channel on Friday, with no easy way of making it back to UK.

But some, like Vicky and her mother Jo, decided to “make the most of it” and spend a few more days in Paris.

“We were starting to get a bit worried about being able to get home eventually,” said Vicky.

Vicky and her mother were only planning on staying one night, but have since decided to book a train back on Sunday.

“We’re going to make the most of it. We just walked up to the Eiffel tower and are going to have a walk around the city, take our time and enjoy Paris,” she said.

Many travellers complained about being unable to get on to the Eurostar app, including Bob and Mavis from Nottingham who had been hoping to travel to Paris from London St Pancras International on Friday.

“It’s taken us hours to get through on the Eurostar app, because it keeps crashing”, said Mavis.

The couple, who had finally managed to book a train to get them into Paris on Saturday, said they were having to spend money for a hotel in London overnight.