Eurotunnel services delayed after hundreds of refugees storm French terminal and platforms

The sale of tickets to travellers without reservations has been suspended

People walk across train tracks near the Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles on August 3, 2015 in Calais, France. (Rob Stothard/Getty Images)

Eurotunnel services were suspended in both directions after hundreds of refugees stormed the terminal and platforms in France.

The mass intrusion on Sunday night led the Channel Tunnel operator to temporarily halt services from Folkestone, Kent and Coquelles in northern France.

Passenger services are experiencing long delays and the sale of tickets to travellers without reservations has been suspended, The Guardian reported.

A Eurotunnel spokesman said refugees were using diversionary tactics in order to occupy police to allow others to try to cross the Channel.

He said: "They are coming in waves to occupy the police, then another wave comes, then another, until there is no more police. One group is then able to get through.

"Then we have to take over and sweep through the terminal and clear them all from the tracks and the platform."

It emerged at the weekend that the number of migrants living in makeshift camps outside Calais has now reached 6,000.

At least 15 migrants have died in or near the tunnel since the start of the cross-Channel migrant crisis at the beginning of the summer.

The increase in migrants attempting to cross the Channel prompted a string of measures to increase security at the terminal, including extra fencing and the deployment of more border force search and dog teams.

Additional reporting by Press Association