Distress flare hits DFDS Seaways Dover-to-Calais ferry

DFDS is transferring its Calais customers to the Dover-Dunkirk service

A passenger ferry operator has suspended its Dover-Calais route "until further notice" after a vessel was struck by a distress flare.

The DFDS Seaways boat was hit on Saturday although it is not known who fired the flare. Nobody was injured.

A spokeswoman for the cross-Channel firm said the suspension was in place "for the safety of our staff, passengers and ships".

Passengers are being transferred onto its Dover to Dunkirk service.

'Talks underway'

The firm tweeted that its vessels had no access to Calais port.

"Customers booked on our Calais route are being transferred onto our Dover-Dunkirk route, where extra capacity has been added following the diversion of an extra ship onto this route," the spokeswoman added.

"Talks, organised by the French Department of Transport, are taking place today in France with the various parties involved.

"We will take a constructive part in these discussions."

The Eurotunnel service is still operating and the M20 in Kent, which had been used as a lorry park for five days, has reopened.