DFDS not taking on P&O Ferries customers this Easter weekend

Ferry operator DFDS says it will not be taking on P&O Ferries customers this Easter weekend, due to capacity in Dover.

The company says between 15 April and 18 April, customers are being asked to contact P&O Ferries for alternative travel arrangements if they have booked with them.

It is also warning people not to proceed to the port without a confirmed reservation.

DFDS had been taking on customers to help ease congestion at the port. It follows the firing of nearly 800 staff members at P&O Ferries to replace them with low paid agency staff.

P&O Ferries was hoping to be in operation again by the Easter weekend, but it had its vessel the Pride of Kent detained for a second time after a re-inspection found deficiencies including in its 'safety systems and crew documentation'.

The crisis has reduced capacity for lorries and tourists crossing the Channel, leading to delays on the roads approaching the Port of Dover.

A spokesperson for P&O said: “We apologise unreservedly to all customers whose scheduled journeys with us between Dover and Calais have been cancelled whilst we are unable to sail.

“It is only fair and right that we make alternative arrangements for those customers, which include transferring them on to our Hull-Europoort service to Rotterdam, or booking them on to services with Brittany Ferries between Portsmouth and Caen."

It said this would come at no extra cost for customers, with mileage expenses reimbursed and a 25% discount on the original fee.