A GROUP of Runcorn Cubs had a hair-raising start to their trip to Disneyland Paris when they were caught up in a major bomb alert.
The youngsters, aged eight-10, were held up for hours on Friday when a passenger tried to smuggle a First World War mortar bomb through customs to France.
Thousands of travellers were delayed after the Channel Tunnel was closed in a bomb scare.
Munitions were found in a car at the Eurotunnel terminal in Folkestone as it was about to be driven on to the 5pm shuttle to France.
The terminal was evacuated and a 300-yard cordon thrown around the building as Kent Police and an Army bomb disposal team investigated the British-registered car.
The discovery of the munitions resulted in the tunnel being closed for three-and-a-half hours, disrupting its busiest night of the week.
Ten scheduled services were held up and five Eurostar trains were prevented from leaving. Trains coming from France were allowed to finish their journeys if close enough to Folke-stone. Others in the tunnel reversed to Calais.
Eurotunnel said: 'It looks as if we are dealing with someone with a rather strange penchant for war memorabilia.'
Police carried out a controlled explosion.
But the children from the 6th Runcorn (St Edward's) Cub Scouts remained cool and collected throughout their ordeal.
They eventually arrived in the French resort at 4am on Saturday - more than 18 hours after setting off from Runcorn.
Cub Scout Leader Pam Myers told the Weekly News: 'The children were fantastic.
'They behaved fantastically but, thanks to our driver, we didn't suffer as badly as we could have done.
'He managed to divert from the motorway and approached the tunnel from the south, so we were able to rejoin the queue only a couple of miles from the entrance, saving us hours.
'I can't believe anyone would be stupid enough in this day and age to try and take an explosive through the Channel Tunnel.'
