Extra ferry journeys have started running across the English Channel as part of a £46.6m taxpayer funded no-deal Brexit contingency plan, despite the UKs withdrawal from the EU being postponed.
Brittany Ferries says there is no turning back as all preparations were planned for today, when the country was expected to leave the EU, even though the journeys are no longer needed.
The firms 20 additional weekly trips are designed to ease pressure at Dover in the event of a no-deal and to keep a steady flow of vital supplies coming into the country.
An excess of £100m in contracts was awarded by the Department for Transport (DfT) in December to Brittany Ferries, DFDS and Seaborne Freight.
The six-month deals are aimed at securing the supply of goods like medicines, vaccines, infant formula milk, organs for transplants and chemicals for the energy industry.
Mindless idiot throws rock at ambulance rushing to save a life
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling got himself into hot water over the £13.8m contract handed to Seaborne Freight – a company with no ships and no history of operating a service – which was cancelled shortly after.
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He then came under fire after a £33m settlement was paid to Eurotunnel, the Channel Tunnels operator, over complaints it wasnt considered over the ferry contract.
A spokeswoman for DFDS, which was awarded a £42.4m contract, would not confirm if it was running extra crossings.
Travel plans of more than 20,000 passengers with existing Brittany Ferries bookings have been altered as a result of the extra crossings.
The company said its ships will sail an additional 2,000 nautical miles every week and it has spent three months training on-board teams and is hiring 50 new members of staff for ports on both sides of the Channel.
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