Ferry travellers stranded by French protests

Thousands of holidaymakers are stranded at ferry terminals in Portsmouth and Cherbourg as French fishermen stage protests over high fuel prices.

Tourists returning from the Continent are stuck at Cherbourg as P&O services remain anchored at Portsmouth.

By early morning, only a freight ship and a passenger boat from Caen and a P&O ferry from Le Havre had crossed the Channel to Portsmouth.

Andy Behan, duty port operator at Portsmouth, said: "It's total disruption for passengers coming to and from Cherbourg.

"A lot of people, particularly those wishing to come back to the UK from holiday, are effectively stranded. We have had disruption to freight traffic over there with action by truck drivers, but this is the worst disruption to passenger traffic I can remember for some time."

P&O's Pride of Cherbourg, Pride of Hampshire and the firm's Superstar Express ship are anchored off Portsmouth, unable to travel.

On Tuesday, a ferry to St Malo left Portsmouth at 8pm, but it was blocked and had to return all its passengers to Portsmouth. They are still awaiting news. Sailings to Le Havre and Caen are expected to operate normally this morning.

At Dover, passengers are also being warned of possible delays as the French protesters threaten to move up the coast. SeaFrance, P&O, Hoverspeed and Norfolk Line are all urging customers to call them before travelling, and SeaFrance is advising day-trippers to delay their trips to another day.

Dover's duty port controller said: "At present, we do not have any action effecting the port and services are operating normally, but we are expecting some action later today.

"There is a worry they might blockade Calais, which normally forces ships to sail to either Ostende or Zebrugge. It causes major disruption."

Last updated: 08:33 Wednesday 30th August 2000.

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_49954.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), August 30, 2000