Transport unions have passed a vote of no confidence in Eurostar's senior management after serious breakdowns on the service over the winter.

Members of the Rail Maritime and Transport Union working on the Channel Tunnel line demanded safety assurances and full disclosure on the breakdowns between 18th and 22nd December 2009.

Between those days there were severe delays after melting snow caused condensation which fried electrics - passengers were trapped overnight and nearly 100,000 were backlogged days before Christmas.

Just after New Year, 'fluffy snow' was blamed as electrics again apparently failed a restricted service was run for several days.

New air vents implemented after Eurostar first ground to a halt may have failed. The firm said an investigation was under way.

Eurotunnel says firm broke safety rules - Unions Open letter

Operator of the Channel Tunnel, Eurotunnel accused Eurostar of ignoring safety rules when evacuating passengers from trains.

Evacuations were prolonged because people took bags with them "in complete violation" of safety procedures, they said.

In a statement, the company said passengers' safety "was not compromised at any time", but voiced concern that officials at Eurotunnel had "misunderstood" the nature of the review.

It has admitted a communications failure, but has partly blamed Eurotunnel, which it said was responsible for evacuations and for relaying information to passengers in the tunnel.

Adding:

"In our view they should allow the panel of experts to get on with the review and let the facts speak for themselves.

The remit of the review is much wider than just the evacuation of passengers from the tunnel and looks at all of the circumstances both before and after the 18 and 19 December."

In a letter to the company, RMT General Secretary Bob Crow has demanded disclosure of the full facts on the following range of staff concerns:

• That it took up to 8 hours to get stranded trains out of the Euro Tunnel.

• That once out of the tunnel it took an additional 4 hours to implement any contingency plan to rescue passengers and staff.

• That it was decided that trains would be kept overnight in the Calais area on the LGV without any provision of assistance/contingency plan rather than sending them back to Lille, Paris or Brussels.

• That a proactive plan is not in place to support colleagues following severe disruptions.

• That on resumption of service, the first train leaving London, full of passengers, was instructed to depart the station with no working International Train Radio against the rules.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:

"RMT is demanding full disclosure of the facts relating to the incidents of December 18th to December 22nd 2009 and we are calling for an emergency meeting between the company and RMT representatives to examine these critical issues.

These are serious concerns with major safety implications for both passengers and staff. The fact that the first train to leave London after days of disruption did so without a working International Train Radio simply defies belief.

I have also been informed by my members that in same week as the disruption Train Managers were requested to work on a train alone. RMT is of the opinion that Lone Working by Train Managers is totally unacceptable. We have given the company two weeks to disclose the full facts and to give us the assurances we are seeking."