Passengers stuck on ferry
Multiple services to France halted
A FERRY firm operating from Portsmouth has cancelled multiple services to France due to Covid-19 travel restrictions, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded onboard a ferry overnight.
Brittany Ferries has had to restrict passengers and accompanied freight on six sailings from Portsmouth to Caen across Sunday to Tuesday.
The cancellations follow France imposing travel restrictions on journeys from the UK until 11.59pm tomorrow, with the aim of curtailing the spread of a more contagious form of Covid-19.
More than 1,000 passengers and 400 freight vehicles had been due to travel with the ferry service.
On Sunday night, a total of 355 passengers were left stranded onboard the Normandie ferry overnight after its 10.45pm sailing was suddenly cancelled, with some travellers reduced to tears according to one passenger.
Simon Wolf, an English ex-patriate living in France and back in the UK for a weekend business trip, said: ‘We were sat down for our meal at about 10.30pm when the announcement was made over the tannoy. There were a lot of people very upset – one woman burst into tears.
‘We had been checking the news and thought we were just inside the midnight deadline.
‘We have managed to book into a Travelodge for a couple of nights. We can’t leave the area and don’t know when we can get back to France.’
The cancelled service also left 40 freight vehicles onboard stuck in the UK.
Brittany Ferries was only made aware that Sunday night’s journey couldn’t go ahead after boarding had taken place, according to a spokesman for the business.
He said: ‘Only once loading was complete and the ship was ready to depart did we receive information that the ship no longer had clearance from the French authorities to disembark passengers in Caen on Monday morning.
‘The ship therefore remained in Portsmouth overnight with passengers using the ship as a floating hotel.
‘We are very sorry for the inconvenience to our passengers, but unfortunately we received very late notice that the ship would be unable to dock in France.
‘We are still operating services carrying unaccompanied freight vehicles from Portsmouth to France, and all passengers and freight from France to the UK. Services to and from Spain are currently operating as normal.
‘We are very sorry to all our customers who have been affected and are contacting them.’
Affected Brittany
Ferries services include
Sunday night’s 10.45pm sailing, yesterday’s services at 8.00am, 2.45pm and 11pm, as well as today’s 8.15am and 3.15pm journeys.
Passengers whose sailings will not go ahead will receive a full refund or alternative travel arrangements, according to the company.
Portsmouth Port said it was only accepting freight with a valid Brittany Ferries booking, and that only unaccompanied freight has permission to travel.
We can’t leave the area and don’t know when we can get back to France.
Simon Wolf
With Operation Stack coming into play in Kent, we will have all seen the pictures and footage of mile-upon-mile of lorries, bumper-to-bumper, unable to move.
As France slaps travel restrictions on accompanied freight and passengers, it has brought chaos to both businesses and individuals who need to cross The Channel.
While this is a French reaction to the worsening Covid situation, particularly in the south east of England, with Brexit looming things are not going to improve.
It does however, highlight just how reliant we are on Dover.
And it also goes to show how important Portsmouth could, and should be to future import and export plans.
The ability to send unaccompanied freight via Portsmouth is a major boon – and a significant advantage over Dover. Unaccompanied freight is not affected by the current ban.
Of course we do not have the geographic advantage of being as close to France as Dover, but it demonstrates a key strength possessed by our port.
It also lends weight to our politicians’ argument that we were hugely short-changed when we only received £17m of a requested £32m to upgrade the port and make it Brexit-ready.
Like so many other local authorities, Portsmouth City Council is already facing a shortfall in funds following the unprecedented circumstances of 2020.
There is no way the city could be expected to make up the difference itself.
We certainly don’t want to see scenes similar to those in Kent played out on the M275 and beyond.
Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister responsible for Brexit planning, told the House of Commons last week that the government is working with the port.
They need to work faster.