Brittany Ferries urges government to re-think 'sea lanes'

A ferry boss has said the advancing UK vaccine programme should mean people can travel

The operator of a cross channel ferry service is calling for the government to allow 'sea lanes' in the summer.

Brittany Ferries usually runs services from Poole, Portsmouth and Plymouth to France and Spain.

Now company bosses are urging officials to re-open travel corridors so people can travel between the UK and continent again.

It comes after the announcement the UK has hit its 15 million Covid-19 vaccination target.

Travel corridors allow passengers to travel on certain routes to and from countries with low COVID-19 infection rates and are currently suspended to prevent the spread of new variants of coronavirus in the UK.

'Hope to return'

Christophe Mathieu, chief executive of Brittany Ferries, said the advancing vaccination programme in the UK, as well as in France and Spain, should lead to the majority of adults in these countries receiving jabs by the summer.

"By spring we think there will be a clear case for the adoption of vaccination-led travel corridors, or in our case sea lanes, that allow holidays to go ahead this summer and for hope to return," he said.

"Now is the time for optimism, not a shutdown on the summer getaway. Lockdown Britons should look forward to holiday with growing confidence and the time is ripe for a rethink on travel corridor policy."

Travel corridors are currently suspended to prevent the spread of new coronavirus variants in the UK

Transport secretary Grant Shapps said people in the UK should not be booking holidays at home or abroad yet, admitting he did not know "where we'll be" by the summer.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he hopes to provide "clarity" on possible lockdown easing later this month, but the public would need to be "a little more patient" as far as holidays are concerned.