Kent students' trip, postponed due to Covid, is cancelled after P&O Ferries chaos
Students in Kent who were due to go on a long-awaited school trip, which was postponed for 2 years due to Covid, have had their trip cancelled once again due to the ongoing chaos over P&O Ferries.
Around 35 students from the Aylesford School were due to go on a skiing trip to Italy leaving last weekend, but now that trip has been cancelled.
It comes following the suspension of P&O services, which has reduced capacity at the port, together with bad weather and a shortage of ferries - all blamed for causing the long queues.
The freeze on the ferry services, with three of the company's vessels at berth in Dover, has been partly blamed for long queues in the area.
Aylesford School headteacher Tanya Kelvie says the tour operator has cancelled the trip because of the ongoing situation surrounding P&O Ferries in Dover
Tanya Kelvie said the last two years has been really challenging for both pupils and teachers.
She says: "The trip was meant to go ahead in October 2020, and it was cancelled due to the pandemic. Then it was cancelled again in 2021. My students have shown great resilience for the last two years when this trip was supposed to be going ahead.
"The students were excited to be leaving for Italy, but that now can't happen because of the situation with P&O."
Anyone who had booked to travel with the company on the 8th, 9th or 10th of April will now have to book with another operator, leaving passengers scrambling to claim their money back from P&O.