P&O has confirmed that all its cross channel ferries between Dover and Calais will be cancelled for the whole of the Easter weekend. P&O Ferries had hoped to operate some services but confirmed on Thursday night that this will not be possible.
The ferry firm has been hit by major disruption after making 800 staff immediately redundant and bidding to replace them with cheaper foreign labour. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency has impounded some of its ships over safety fears after the move.
Ships being held in port include The Spirit of Britain in the Port of Dover and The Pride of Kent.
In a Tweet, P&O said: "Dover-Calais: April 15 to April 18. Our Passenger services are suspended this weekend. We sincerely apologise.
"For travel April 15-18 please re-book directly with another operator before arriving. DFDS are not able to transfer P&O customers on their ships."
DFDS has been trying to carry as many P&O passengers as possible, with extra crossings - but is during people not to travel to ports without a booking. In a Tweet, the firm said: "DFDS has no availability for P&O customers between April 15, 00.01 and April 18, 23.59.
"Please do not proceed to port without a confirmed reservation, contact P&O Ferries for alternative travel arrangements."
Travellers have been advised to plan ahead and avoid the busiest times if possible amid concerns of Easter getaway chaos.
The Department for Transport has advisied people to allow extra time for their journeys with delays not only on ferries, but also aat airports and on trains and roads. Large queues of lorries have been forming on the roads approaching the Port of Dover.
Meanwhile, some 27.6 million car journeys are expected to take place over the Bank Holiday weekend, according to the AA. Motorists are advised to travel on Thursday or early on Saturday if they can, to give themselves the best chance of avoiding long queues.
Edmund King, AA president, said: “All our polling suggests that Good Friday will be the busiest getaway day for Easter trips and staycations. If some drivers can leave on Thursday or early Saturday, they may miss some of the jams.”
The motoring organisation also estimated that, with higher fuel prices, a 500-mile round trip will see drivers paying £20 more at the pumps than they did last Easter.
Transport minister Robert Courts said his department is “working closely with operators to minimise disruption” during the break, but advised people to “plan ahead and check for updates from operators”. Flight cancellations and long queues at UK airports in recent days have been blamed on difficulties recruiting new staff and the time it takes for their security checks to be processed, as well as increased levels of coronavirus-related sickness.
Aviation data firm Cirium said 9,212 flights with 1.6 million seats are scheduled to depart from UK airports between Good Friday and Easter Monday. The number of flights is 78% of the total for Easter 2019, before the coronavirus crisis affected travel. The busiest day will be Good Friday when some 2,430 flights are due to depart. Rail passengers have also been warned of delays as Network Rail carries out 530 engineering projects costing a total of £83 million.
This includes the closure of the West Coast Main Line between London Euston and Milton Keynes for four days from Good Friday due to upgrades of the existing line and HS2 work. Meanwhile, the Met Office has said the weather looks like it will be “playing ball” for the long weekend, with a high of 23C possible in the south of England on Good Friday.
Forecaster Craig Snell said: “As Bank Holidays go it is looking fairly fine and dry across the UK, so I think people will certainly be able to get out and enjoy the countryside or whatever it is they’re doing over the Easter weekend. The weather will be playing ball. All in all, it looks like travel conditions are going to be fairly ok, weather-wise.”
