Scarlet Lady: Queues in Portsmouth for cruise ship Covid testing

Some passengers reported waiting for five hours

Hundreds of people found themselves queuing for hours ahead of a cruise ship's departure from Portsmouth.

Long lines of passengers formed as they waited to take rapid lateral flow Covid tests at a site near the port.

Virgin Voyages said it was not the way it wanted passengers to start their holiday and it was working with its testing partner to fix any issues.

The Scarlet Lady's departure for the UK-based cruise has been delayed by several hours.

The 277m vessel, which has space for 3,000 passengers, is set to be the largest cruise ship ever to sail from the city.

'Stressful day'

Passenger Andy Tucker joined the queue at 13:45 BST.

"We were five hours waiting for the tests in the queue, it's not great," he said.

"They [Virgin Voyages] said we had to turn up one hour before our embarkation time and we were told not to turn up before.

"It's been quite a stressful day."

The cruise ship weighs about 110,000 tonnes

The ship was due to sail at 19:00 but is now expected to depart at 21:30.

A Virgin Voyages spokesperson said: "Part of our on-board experience includes organising staggered embarkation times so that our sailors can board in a more timely fashion.

"We acknowledge that when times are missed, or not accessible, this can delay the process and impact others.

"We are fully committed to consistent improvement as we launch this brand and are working with our testing partner to fix this immediately."