What “stranded” citizens? I thought they built a Chunnel years ago. These people can’t take a bus or the train?

Quotes from http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0419/travelupdates.html
“Britain is dispatching Royal Navy ships to help bring home its nationals stranded by the closure of European airspace due to volcanic ash, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said.

The aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal and amphibious assault ship HMS Ocean have been made available to help thousands of Britons stranded notably in France.”

However, “Eurostar says that from tomorrow until Sunday, all 30,000 of the available standard-class seats on its trains will be on offer at a special price of £89 one-way.

The company, which runs services between London and Paris and Brussels, said that between today and Sunday it would operate at least 28 additional trains.”

It may make some sort of sense to supplement the ferry boats to and from Ireland and maybe Scandinavia, but France? I think they would be better off assuming control of some cruise liners and using those to ferry citizens from other than France.

Well…I cannot imagine the living conditions on the Royal Navy’s ships to be as comfortable as most civilians are used to, but I hope those that are forced to use those ships enjoy the ride.

Personally, I’d take a free ride on a carrier, even a small one, than going under the channel on the chunnel train. It’s way cooler and is good publicity for the RN anyways.