Fed-up French travellers face traffic chaos over festive period

Travellers across France scrambled yesterday to begin their Christmas getaways with trains cancelled, roads jampacked and nerves tested as a strike over a pension overhaul shows no signs of letting up.

Hopes of a holiday truce were dashed after talks between the government and union leaders this week failed to ease the standoff, with train operator SNCF warning the traffic would be “severely disrupted” over the festive period. SNCF said its aim to allow 850,000 ticket holders to travel this weekend was being upheld -- but only half of its usual services were running.

“I’m upset, this strike is unbearable... The government must do something,” said Jeffrey Nwutu Ebube, who was in the northern port town of Le Havre trying to find a way back home to the southern city of Toulouse, some 850 kilometres (530 miles) away.

Late Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron, called on the strikers to embrace a “spirit of responsibility” and for “collective good sense to triumph”.

“I believe there are moments in the life of a nation when it is also good to call a truce to respect families and the lives of families,” he said, speaking in Abidjan, the commercial capital of Ivory Coast, where he is on a visit. Many stranded travellers have turned to car rental agencies or sharing platforms since the strike began on December 5, but the last-minute surge in demand meant vehicles were hard to come by