Channel services running again

CROSS-Channel services restarted during the night with ferries and Eurotunnel working in both directions to clear the chaos caused by the MyFerryLink workers’ blockade of Calais.

Strikers barricaded motorway access to the port and started fires on the Eurostar rail tracks to halt services as they protested Eurotunnel’s sell-off of two ferries to DFDS amid fears of significant job losses.

This morning all transport operators said they were running full scheduled services to clear the miles of queuing traffic.

Illegal immigrants in Calais took advantage of the chaos to try to climb into lorries stuck in the queues on the motorway and in the town. Lorry drivers were told to keep their doors locked at all times and not to stop within 100km of the port for fear of being attacked.

Police were vastly outnumbered by the migrants with more than 3,000 said to be camped in Calais, where mayor Natacha Bouchart has openly called on France to provoke a 'diplomatic incident' with the UK over migrants to get action, as Britain does not pay anything to help the town cope.

British ambassador Sir Peter Ricketts replied saying that Britain had put up €15million towards security barriers in the town and was also looking at help at Coquelles, for the tunnel.

In an interview with La Voix du Nord he said British staff were in constant contact with French authorities and worked in the migrant camps to say that the tales of an Eldorado in the UK were a myth as the government had tightened access to benefits and illegal working.

However, he said that the security in Calais and the French coast was the responsibility of French authorities although the Home Office has said it was working "with French counterparts to strengthen border security" in France and Belgium.

The wildcat MyFerryLink strike came as DFDS was refusing to give any indication of its plans for the two ferries, Rodin and Berlioz, that it is leasing and then buying from Eurotunnel.

French Transport Minister Alain Vidalies, however, has called on Eurotunnel to rethink its decision to sell the vessels in view of the consequences for jobs in Calais. He said it could not hide from its responsibilities to its workers.

P&O, which was heavily affected by yesterday’s disruption as four of its five ferries were stuck inside the Calais blockade, blamed Eurotunnel directly for the chaos.

Chief executive Helen Deeble blamed Eurotunnel and DFDS directly for the problems saying the ferry deal had been done “at short notice, with neither party appearing to engage constructively with the French sea-going and shore staff at MyFerryLink”.