Eurotunnel services have resumed after thousands of passengers were left stranded on both sides of the Channel due to a lorry fire.

Services were stopped after the vehicle caught fire on the French side of the railway's north tunnel on Saturday.

The incident led to long queues at St Pancras station in London as services were cancelled. Similar delays and queues also took place in Paris.

A Eurotunnel spokesman said services resumed at 2:45am Irish time.

Passenger service Eurostar says it plans to run a full service today, but only "for passengers who have an existing reservation for this date".

Trains are expected to be delayed by between 30 minutes and an hour.

The company added that people whose trains were cancelled on Saturday are advised not to arrive at stations unless they had already been re-booked.

A Eurostar spokesman said: "All passengers who are booked to travel tomorrow, Sunday January 18th, should check in as normal half an hour before departure."

"Eurostar services tomorrow are already very busy and availability is limited."

Eurotunnel spokesman earlier John O'Keefe said a "smouldering load" was found in the trailer of the lorry. The alarm was triggered after CO2 detectors were activated in one tunnel, Eurotunnel said.

A Kent Police spokesman said yesterday: "A lorry fire has led to the closure of both bores of the Channel Tunnel. The fire was at the French end of the tunnel and is being dealt with by the French authorities. There are no reported injuries."

In March, hundreds of Eurostar passengers were delayed after a lightning strike triggered a fire in a building close to the entrance to the tunnel in Kent.

Although there was no damage to the track, four trains in and out of England were affected.

Three eventually reached their destination but the fourth, which had been heading to Paris, was forced to turn back to London.

Originally published January 17th