School trip cancelled amid 'dire' Dover conditions

A teacher on the trip said there were only a few toilets for thousands of people

A skiing trip for a group of Leicestershire schoolchildren had to be abandoned when their coach was caught up in lengthy delays at Dover.

At the weekend the port saw delays of up to 18 hours at passport control.

A teacher from Rawlins Academy in Quorn said they threatened to call emergency services due to "dire" conditions during the wait overnight on Saturday.

They said they took the "heart-breaking" decision on Sunday but that the children had been "incredible".

Authorities at Dover declared a critical incident at the weekend as border checks, holiday rush and bad weather contributed to coaches being held for long periods.

The school said it abandoned the trip due to concerns for the pupils' safety

Rawlins Academy vice principal Cathy Robinson told BBC Radio Leicester they had been warned of some problems, so made sure the children were "fed and watered".

"When we first reached the holding pen at about six o'clock we were still quite upbeat, we were thinking positive.

"We eventually tried to get some sleep at one or two in the morning, still in a holding pen, but I think it was when we woke up at about seven and we hadn't moved we thought 'maybe this isn't going to happen'," she said.

But on top of the delays, the conditions in the pens contributed to the problems.

'Wonderful' pupils

Ms Robinson said: "It was pretty dire to be honest. There must have been about a dozen Portaloos between the thousands of students who were trapped on these coaches.

"There were no staff around to give us information, to allow us to make informed choices.

"There was nowhere to get water, there was nowhere to get food and at one point at about midnight, we had to threaten to call the emergency services to get some water for the pupils."

Shortly before 09:00 on Sunday staff decided, due to health and safety concerns, to abandon the trip.

Ms Robinson said: "There were tears, the pupils were upset but during the coach journey home they were still in high spirits.

"They are children, they are resilient and to be quite honest they were absolutely wonderful and they were still smiling when they got off the coach."

The school is now hoping to organise another trip to Italy.

The port apologised for "prolonged delays" and said the tailbacks were largely cleared.

A teacher on the trip said there were only a few toilets for thousands of people

Worksop College in Nottinghamshire also had two trips caught up in the delays.

A ski trip to Austria suffered a 26-hour delay in Dover, while a netball trip to France had to turn around following a wait of nearly eight hours.

Headteacher Dr John Price said: "It's been really really tough.

"But at the end of the day, we had to consider the whole safeguarding issue. The pupils have been incredible.

"We're desperately keen to try and get something else organised when we can, but maybe we won't go from Dover again."