Eurostar security made us leave our e-bike battery behind in Paris
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We travelled with our folding e-bike for a cycling holiday in France with no problems on the way out, but on return it was not allowed on the train. At the end of August my partner and I went on a cycling holiday in France with our folding e-bikes. We travelled by Eurostar and had no problems on the way out.
![[Zoe Wood]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2022/07/28/Zoe_Wood.png?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
However, on the return journey we were stopped by security at Paris Gare du Nord and told our batteries would not be allowed on the train as “they were at risk of exploding”. We are in our early 70s and before I booked I read the Eurostar guidance on e-bikes carefully. They are allowed, providing they are bagged and conform with size requirements, which ours did.
We could not get the security staff to change their minds so stowed the batteries in left luggage to avoid confiscation. We missed our train, but were provided with a ticket for a later one, however that did not make our connection to Somerset. The batteries are worth more than £1,000, so I complained to Eurostar and tried to get it to arrange for them to be transported to St Pancras for us to collect.
It told me to raise a complaint with SNCF, the French national railway company. However, it told me that security at the station is not its responsibility. After several weeks of calls and emails it reached the point where we felt we had no choice but to travel back to Paris (by car and ferry) to retrieve the batteries.
