Who murdered the UK leg of the Orient Express?

It is a case which would not detain Hercule Poirot for too long: who, or rather what, murdered the UK leg of the Orient Express?

The iconic service, the setting for Agatha Christie’s famous novel, is to scrap its British leg next year – and the culprit is Brexit.

Travellers on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express (VSOE) have previously been able to depart London’s Victoria station for Folkestone on a British Pullman service, boarding a coach to cross to France and joining a train in Calais.

But now Belmond, which operates the route, has said it will “adjust operations” next year due to “enhanced border and passport controls”. In November the EU introduces its long-delayed entry and exit system, with all arrivals from outside the EU having to have fingerprints scanned and a photograph taken on entering the bloc or European Economic Area countries. It is likely to add still further to the chaos caused over the Easter holidays by the increased processing times since Britain left the EU with every passport now having to be scanned and stamped.

The company said: “We want to avoid any risk of travel disruption for our guests – delays and missing train connections – and provide the highest level of service, as seamless and relaxed as possible”.

The service, the route of which originally ran from Paris to Istanbul, crossing countries including France and Germany, can cost up to £10,100 per person. Evening dress is required and jeans are banned.

Passengers from London will be able to take the modern high-speed Eurostar to Paris and join the VSOE there, but Mark Smith, founder of the train travel site The Man in Seat 61, told the Guardian: “It’s not the same. It is a great shame if that part of the experience is gone.”

He added: “The British Pullman was the hors d’oeuvre – it set you up with smoked salmon and champagne on the way from London to Folkestone on the traditional boat-train route that passengers heading to the Orient Express would have used in the 1930s. Joining the continental train at Calais in time to get dressed for dinner was wonderful.”

The news followed a similar announcement last year that Eurostar’s service from St Pancras to Disneyland Paris will finish this summer, with the firm citing the fall-out from Brexit.

So who’s to blame for the Murder on the Orient Express? Boris Johnson? Nigel Farage? Michael Gove? Dominic Cummings? It wouldn’t take Poirot to work out that – spoiler alert – they all had a role in the crime.