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Eurotunnel, which controls the tunnel link between France and Britain, received criticism on Wednesday for an ad that claims its services continues despite any weather condition. The criticism stemmed from last year’s delay in operations, which was caused by heavy snow.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of Britain, ruled out that an e-mail promo with the title “France in just 35 minutes” which states “whatever the weather” was no doubt misleading, hence it will not be shown again.

The advertisement was questioned by one customer who got stranded at the Eurotunnel check-in for a couple of hours last December. The delay was due to the malfunction of five Eurostar passenger trains inside the tunnel which forced the suspension of the entire cross-Channel services.

Eurotunnel argued that the malfunction, which caused a three-day shutdown of operations and left thousands of people stranded in the Christmas holiday, was never their fault.

Eurostar was a separate company and Eurotunnel trains continued to be functional, the firm insisted, based on ASA documents.

The company further added that the weather conditions that time were “very unusual, in the same way that a hurricane or tsunami was”. They also believe that their ad campaigns don’t have to take into consideration such “exceptional circumstances”.

Despite the firm’s defence, the ruling said, “We considered that the conditions of December 2009 could not be placed in the same bracket of exceptional weather as a hurricane or tsunami and it could not be assumed that they would never be repeated”.

Train services between France and the Uk have been halted again after another breackdown in the channel tunnel.

Operator Eurostar called a halt to services between London and the continent yesterday (THURSDAY) after the 8.05am service from Brussels in Belgium lost traction in the tunnel.

The break down was blamed on wintry weather in Northern France, currently affected by heavy snow.

The train, carry a total of 236 passengers, was assisted as far as Ashford station in Kent by a rescue train and all other services were immediately halted, with trains left stranded in the UK and France.

The incident caused delays for passengers travelling to France via Eurotunnel’s car shuttle service.

The stoppage comes just weeks after tens of thousands of travellers to and from France were left stranded after Eurostar services were cancelled just days before Christmas.

Eurostar spokesmen at the time confirmed that melting snow had caused power shortages on the trains as water was draw into the air intakes.

The company said that they had carried out the usual “winterisation” on all of their rolling stock, but this had seemingly not taken into account the problems caused by the unexpected big freeze.

Passegers hoping to travel between France and the UK were advised by Eurostar to rethink their plans and a spokesman for the company said: “If you do not need to travel we recommend you cancel or postpone your trip to a later date.”