Dover ferry passengers warned of long delays as coaches queue up

A critical incident has been declared at Dover, as coach passengers face hours-long delays caused by bad weather and long processing times in France.

Around 70 coaches were waiting at the port to be processed early on Saturday morning, a port official told the BBC.

Children on school coach trips had been stuck at the port for more than 12 hours, their parents said on Twitter.

The port apologised for "prolonged delays" and said it was "deeply frustrated" by the situation.

It was particularly frustrated on behalf of ferry operators' coach passengers "who have had to endure such a long wait", a spokesperson said.

Freight and car traffic was being processed steadily but coach traffic has suffered significant delays due to lengthy French border processes and sheer volume, they added.

The port was working to get "all passengers on their way as quickly as possible", they said.

P&O Ferries and DFDS Seaways have both reported disruption to Channel ferry crossings - with DFDS saying strong winds were adding to the problem.

Passengers complained that they had spent the day stranded, with one parent tweeting that they and their children - who arrived via coach at midday - were still waiting for a place on a ferry at 21:00 BST.

Student Oliver Quigley-Brown, who was travelling to France for a university ski trip, told the BBC he had been warned he faced a 14-hour delay.

He said he had seen "a lot of stressed teachers" at the port, estimating there could be "thousands" of people from school and university groups stuck there.

Authorities had provided them with snacks and water, Mr Quigley-Brown said, but he added: "I don't think they'd anticipated the kind of delays we're seeing."

Ferry operators have been sending coach traffic to alternative waiting areas in order to clear the backlog of vehicles within the port.

DFDS UK tweeted that services to France were running with delays of up to 2.5 hours - but urged passengers to check in as normal.

In its own Twitter update, P&O Ferries stressed that it had "no control" over the border checks, but that coaches would be on "the next crossing to Calais after clearing check-in".

A spokesperson for P&O earlier apologised for the wait times - which were blamed on bad weather delaying sailings - as well as "high volumes of traffic... particularly coach groups".

As well as the situation at Dover, there are fears of disrupted Easter getaways due to strikes affecting London's Heathrow Airport.

Hundreds of security officers in the Unite union have begun 10 days of industrial action over pay - though the airport said it was operating "as normal" on Friday.