Eurotunnel has set an all time record by carrying nearly 16,000 passenger vehicles in a single day.

Eurotunnel’s Le Shuttle saw record traffic last weekend. On Saturday August 17, 15,982 vehicles, including 168 coaches travelled in both directions between Folkestone and Coquelles, breaking the existing record for the heaviest traffic ever seen in one day since Le Shuttle opened for commercial service in 1994. This is the third time this year that the 15,000-vehicle ceiling has been broken. The total includes cars, motorcycles, vehicles with trailers, caravans and campervans.

To cope with this unprecedented volume of traffic, 151 Shuttle departures were organized, sometimes at a rate of up to one every 12 minutes.

Eurotunnel paid tribute to French and British border controls, saying that passengers passed rapidly through the frontier controls, and were able to board their departure in plenty of time.

Jacques Gounon, chairman and chief executive of the Eurotunnel Group, said: “This considerable volume of cross-Channel traffic, a first in the history of our company, was achieved through the long term collaboration established with the staff at the border and frontier security control points”