Dear Editor

Re: Independent review into Eurostar debacle makes grim reading
Everyone who followed the Eurostar story at the time was astonished at how poorly they had handled their communications.

We catalogued Eurostar's trail of incompetence in the February issue of Communicate magazine - http://bit.ly/bF38KB 

However since then Eurostar has handled their communications excellently. Part of this is because they understand conventional (traditional) crisis communications very well (&, like so many companies, were caught off guard by the way social media can fan the flames of a crisis) and time has given them the opportunity to respond appropriately.

But I also think that they have shown a willingness to learn. The commissioning of an independent review in the first instance was a good start. It highlighted that willingness.

The report recommended the use of new media channels in communicating to all their stakeholders and how pleased they must have been at having already responded to that recommendation and set up a corporate twitter account.

If they hadn't they would have been telling passengers of the tragic crash in Belgium this week through a twitter account designed to sell long weekends in Brussels.

The infrastructural recommendations may take a little longer, but that Eurostar have responded so quickly on the areas where a quick response was possible must bode well.

Andrew Thomas,
Publisher of Communicate magazine

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