More than 700 passengers had to be rescued from a Eurostar train in Kent overnight.

The train was travelling from Paris to London and came to a stop just outside Ashford at about 10.45pm Sunday.

The cross-Channel train operator described it as a "major technical problem".

The 740 passengers had to wait over an hour for a replacement train to take them to St Pancras in London.

A Eurostar spokesman for the company said it is investigating the problem and apologised for the inconvenience.

It comes just days after the rail firm was severely criticised for a series of breakdowns before Christmas that left thousands of people stranded inside the tunnel.