The following people are all backing the campaign to save Eurostar Services at Ashford

Sharon Bowles MEP

"I am calling on Eurostar to stop the cuts at Ashford International, and reinstate a direct service to Brussels. The cuts that have been made to the Eurostar service are unnacceptable and damaging to Ashford and the other towns of Kent. Eurostar should see sense and keep Ashford truly International."

Mrs Betty Hall, Maidstone, Kent (Aged 70)

"I regularly use Ashford International to visit my daughter in Brussels. If the service stops I don't know what I'll do. I don't drive so I get a local train from Maidstone to Ashford which takes 20 minutes. I have no idea how I would even begin to get to Ebbsfleet from here. Eurostar please keep one daily service to Brussels from Ashford at least. Not all of us can jump into a car!"

Patricia Spain, Ashford, Kent

"We came (like others) to live in Ashford to be within reach of our family in Paris. We are finding it increasingly difficult to book tickets on Eurostar because of the already reduced services. We cannot afford business rates.

We would not be prepared to make the drive north to Ebbsfleet to join the train in order to return south again; that would be ridiculous. Neither will other Eurostar customers we have spoken to recently from, for example, Maidstone, Lewes and Eastbourne.

If Eurostar persists with the proposed cut backs it must lose considerable number of its customers from mid, south and east Kent and East Sussex. These are likely to opt for channel crossings plus French railways, or a return to air travel. "

William Dee, Badlesmere, Kent

The arrogance with which Eurostar just pull a service like this astounds me. I bought a house in the Ashford area 10 years ago specifically so that I could commute to work in Brussels each week. Driving to Ebbsfleet will be a major inconvenience to me and others both in terms of time and financially and will seriously damage the aspirations Ashford has to attract investment as a European hub.

This kind of thing would never happen anywhere else in Europe and certainly not to an international train service. Eurostar seem to have had a customer servive bypass and none of us are fooled by the temporary continuation of a Paris service. Eurostar clearly want to abandon Ashford to save staff costs and there should be a public inquiry into how this fiasco happened. If Eurostar can't act responsibly then maybe its time they were regulated more closely by government to ensure the public interest is protected from short-term speculators playing around with public transport infrastructure. "

Pauline Kingswood

The cuts to the contental services mean that the money invested in the station, the expanded future of Ashford and other facilities, has been wasted. A more high profiled advertising campaign for the use of the rail access and the Ashford Int. continental service as it stands should be begun immediately. The reduction of this service will also undermine the work that has been done and is continuing to be done to promote the Ashford/Brighton line as a direct link from the continent west across the south of England. Promotion of Ebbsfleet as easily accessible via the M25 is madness when the road is already so busy.

Stephen Kelly

Transfering services from Ashford to a new station just minutes away from the London Terminus is ridiculous.

Patricia Baum

I have just purchased four return tickets to Brussels from Ashord to be used in the next 3 weeks. I live in Walmer - why go to London and back at great expense and loss of time?

Diane Phillips

I just wish to register my anger that after all the investment that has taken place in the Ashford area over the last 10 years to make it the train travel link with the Continent, it now appears that I will be expected to travel back towards London in order to take the Eurostar to Paris and beyond.

Celia House

Families and businesses have relocated to Ashford to take advantage of the Eurostar facility. To restrict that facility is ludicrous.

John House

I can not undertand the logic of making potential passengers travel to Ebbsfleet when they live in the vacinity of Ashford International station. To stop there would onyl mean no more than 5 - 10 minutes extra on journey time which can not be critical.

Dr Brian Beeley

With links between Kent and nearby parts of Belgium and France developing (including increasing commuting through the tunnel to work) it would be foolish to destroy the Ashford stop - which could be promoted far more than at present to compete with ferry and air transport from south-east England to the continent.

Mike Appelbe

I live in South West Kent and travel with my wife by Eurostar to see family members in Aachen Germany. My last return trip was in February 2007, we go again this April. My understanding is that from this Autumn we will have to change at Lille as well as Brussels and I don't know anything about how this connection will be, especially bearing in mind that my wife is in a wheelchair.

Elizabeth De Meza

Ashford International is the only train connection point to Eurostar services for people from the Hastings, Eastbourne and Tunbridge Wells areas. The train company should be look at attracting more traffic, not depleting it's existing services.

Gladys Potter

We shall be very dissappointed if Ashford closes. We live in Deal, Kent and it will be out of our way to go all the way up to London to catch the train and to come back down again. We shall probably go back and use the ferries again if this happens.

Bernard Mothes

While I am not a very frequent user of Ashford International, I use it regularly, both for private and professional purposes. Having to travel to Ebbsfleet would add time and cost to every journey to Europe. For many people, it would make it moore likely that they choose other means of transport for their journey, with negative impact on the environment.

Joanna Benfield

Working in Brussels, with my family living in Kent, I regularly use the Eurostar service to and from Ashford. From Ashford, I am able to take a direct train to my family in Deal, with a total journey time from Brussels of less than 2.5 hours.

However, if the Brussels-Ashford service is axed as planned, I would face a long journey either from Ebbsfleet or London back down to the Kent coast. Despite using the service regularly, I have never received any information about the planned cuts from Eurostar, only learning of them from the local papers in Kent. I believe that the decision to cut the service completely will alienate many customers, and that others - like me - will suddenly view Eurostar in an extremely negative light.

Furthermore, the decision will be damaging for the business environment in Ashford and the surrounding area. I strongly urge Eurostar to consider retaining - as an absolute minimum - at least one direct service per day in each direction between Ashford and Brussels.

To have your comments added to this page, please email comments@saveashfordinternational.org.uk