Extra sailings ran through the night at the Port of Dover to help clear the backlog that left passengers – including school pupils – stranded for up to 14 hours.
A spokesperson for the port said they hoped to clear the backlog by Sunday lunchtime, blaming increased Easter traffic, earlier bad weather and delays in French border processing for the long lines of traffic.
P&O Ferries was advising passengers to expect a 10-hour wait in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman, speaking to Sophy Ridge on Sunday, said the situation at Dover was “improving”.
She also denied that Brexit had played a part in the disruption and urged patience from holidaymakers while travel companies cleared the backlog.
“I don’t think that is fair to say that this is an adverse effect of Brexit,” she said.
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‘Dover delays not adverse effect of Brexit’
“I think we have seen we have had many years now since leaving the European Union and there’s been, on the whole, very good cooperation and processes.
“But at acute times, when there’s a lot of pressure crossing the Channel whether the tunnel or the ferries, then I think there’s always going to be a backup.
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“And I just urge everyone to be a bit patient while the ferry companies work their way through the backlog.”
‘It was really harrowing’
Some passengers had to spend Friday night in their seats after authorities diverted more than 20 coaches to nearby lorry rest stops because of overcrowding in Dover.
“By the time we reached the port, we joined the queue and seven hours later, we’ve moved about three inches,” said coach driver Ken, who couldn’t finish the journey to Italy because of the hours he had already spent sitting in traffic.
“The port was teeming with children getting off the coaches to go to the toilet. If you went into the toilet area it was devastating, it was full of bodies. It was really harrowing,” he told Sky News.
A separate coach-load of 13-year-olds had their trip to a football tournament cancelled because their driver had reached the maximum number of hours allowed.
“There’s so much traffic in the area that they can’t get people into the terminal itself,” Simon Lyons, a father chaperoning the trip, said.
“Staff here are being very friendly and helpful but what they’re telling us is there’s a real lack of French border staff trying to get people checked and into the terminal.”
Teacher trapped at Dover for 16 hours forced to spend £1,000 on pizza for 80 students
A school teacher stuck in the chaos at the Port of Dover has told Sky News he had to spend around £1,000 on pizzas for the children in his care.
Edward Davies, a geography teacher from Bournemouth, has been waiting to cross the Channel for more than 16 hours and spent last night in a car park in Kent along with fellow teachers and students.
The party of 80 pupils, spread over two coaches, was meant to have boarded a ferry at 8.20pm last night (Saturday).
When Sky News spoke to him at around midday today (Sunday) he said: “We should be strapping on our ski boots on the slope right now.” He was speaking before heading off to pick up his mammoth Domino’s pizza order.
He added he had been told it was taking an average of an hour to process each of the coaches arriving at the port.
Mr Davies said he expected to be through and on a ferry by 4pm, at which point he and his party will have been waiting for at least 20 hours.
After a restless night in their seats, this afternoon some of the children spilled out onto the traffic lanes at the port itself – singing, waving at freight lorries and throwing around rugby balls – just to give themselves something to do.
Elsewhere in the queue, as police officers handed out bottles of water, some other teachers were being forced to book new drivers and hotels in France, while others have even given up on the trips altogether – and are simply turning around and going home.
‘We haven’t moved for eight hours’
Kaeti Breward, a PE teacher at St Joseph’s High School in Wrexham who is heading on a ski trip to the Alpes with a group of 40 children, said she and her students were meant to be on a 5pm ferry on Saturday night.
“[We’ve made] very little progress,” she told Sky News.
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Passengers tell of Dover ordeal
“We arrived at the Port of Dover about 4pm and we were put into a holding bay. At midnight last night, we were moved into another holding bay and probably there for about an hour and a half.
“There were no toilet facilities there. At that point, P&O gave us some Kit Kats.
“They had run out of water. We brought extra water, but we are out now. It’s getting to a pretty dire situation now really.”
She added: “We literally haven’t moved, probably for about eight hours. We’ve been inching forward, but that’s about it.
“We’ve got years of experience leading trips. We’ve never had this before. We’ve also got two experienced coach drivers with us and they’ve never had this.”
Dover Port has had these passenger volumes before, but since the UK left the EU, additional passport checks take additional time.
“The difference of living in a post-Brexit environment means that every passport needs to be checked before a vehicle or passenger can pass through to the EU through France. And that happens here in Dover. So it does make processing more challenging,” said Doug Bannister, CEO of Dover Port.
Port ‘deeply frustrated’
P&O Ferries said on Saturday evening that coaches at the cruise terminal were still facing a wait time of up to 3.5 hours before they can proceed to the Port of Dover.
Food and drink had been provided to passengers stuck in the traffic.
The port spokesperson said: “There is still the ongoing situation at the port but both DFDS Seaways and P&O are adding additional departures overnight. Vessels usually have a longer layover at night but they will be running back and forth to clear as much as they can.”
Image: Lorries queue for the Port of Dover along the A20 in Kent as strong winds effect ferry services on Friday
Earlier on Saturday a port spokesperson said he was “deeply frustrated” by the “significant delays”.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged the government to “get a grip” of the situation at Dover.
“I really feel for people trying to get through Dover. There will have been families who have booked holidays and now they are frustrated yet again,” he said.
“This is not the first time there have been problems at Dover.
“You can’t have every summer holiday, every Easter holiday, the same old problem. And so the government needs to get a grip on this and actually help people out, who are just trying to get away for a few days’ holiday.”
A government spokesman said: “The UK government remains in close contact with ferry operators, the French authorities, and the Kent Resilience Forum regarding delays at the Port of Dover.
“The port has advised that it remains busy but the situation has improved significantly since yesterday, with coaches being processed at a much quicker rate.
“We recommend passengers check the latest advice from their operators before travelling.”
A 92-year-old man has been sentenced to life with a minimum term of 20 years in prison for the rape and murder of an elderly widow nearly 60 years ago.
Ryland Headley was found guilty on Monday of killing 75-year-old Louisa Dunne at her Bristol home in June 1967, in what is thought to be the UK’s longest cold case to reach trial, and has been told by the judge he “will die in prison”.
The mother-of-two’s body was found by neighbours after Headley, then a 34-year-old railway worker, forced his way inside the terraced house in the Easton area before attacking her.
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The UK’s longest cold case to reach trial
Police found traces of semen and a palm print on one of the rear windows inside the house – but it was about 20 years before DNA testing.
The case remained unsolved for more than 50 years until Avon and Somerset detectives sent off items from the original investigation and found a DNA match to Headley.
He had moved to Suffolk after the murder and served a prison sentence for raping two elderly women in 1977.
Prosecutors said the convictions showed he had a “tendency” to break into people’s homes at night and, in some cases, “target an elderly woman living alone, to have sex with her despite her attempts to fend him off, and to threaten violence”.
Image: Louisa Dunne in 1933. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
Image: Headley during his arrest. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
Headley, from Ipswich, who did not give evidence, denied raping and murdering Ms Dunne, but was found guilty of both charges after a trial at Bristol Crown Court.
Detectives said forces across the country are investigating whether Headley could be linked to other unsolved crimes.
Mrs Dunne’s granddaughter, Mary Dainton, who was 20 when her relative was killed, told the court that her murder “had a big impact on my mother, my aunt and her family.
“I don’t think my mother ever recovered from it. The anxiety caused by her mother’s brutal rape and murder clouded the rest of her life.
“The fact the offender wasn’t caught caused my mother to become and remain very ill.
“When people found out about the murder, they withdrew from us. In my experience, there is a stigma attached to rape and murder.”
Image: The front of Louisa Dunne’s home. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
Image: Louisa Dunne’s skirt. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
Finding out her grandmother’s killer had been caught after almost six decades “turned my life upside down,” she said.
“I feel sad and very tired, which has affected the relationships I have with those close to me. I didn’t expect to deal with something of such emotional significance at this stage of my life.
“It saddens me deeply that all the people who knew and loved Louisa are not here to see that justice has been done.”
Image: Palmprint images. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
After her statement, Mr Justice Sweeting told Mrs Dainton: “It is not easy to talk about matters like this in public.
“Thank you very much for doing it in such a clear and dignified way.”
The judge told Headley his crimes showed “a complete disregard for human life and dignity.
“Mrs Dunne was vulnerable, she was a small elderly woman living alone. You treated her as a means to an end.
“The violation of her home, her body and ultimately her life was a pitiless and cruel act by a depraved man.
“She must have experienced considerable pain and fear before her death,” he said.
Sentencing Headley to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 20 years, the judge told him: “You will never be released, you will die in prison.”
Detective Inspector Dave Marchant of Avon and Somerset Police said Headley was “finally facing justice for the horrific crimes he committed against Louisa in 1967.
“The impact of this crime has cast a long shadow over the city and in particular Louisa’s family, who have had to deal with the sadness and trauma ever since.”
The officer praised Ms Dainton’s “resilience and courage” during what he called a “unique” case and thanked investigators from his own force, as well as South West Forensics, detectives from Suffolk Constabulary, the National Crime Agency and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Three managers at the hospital where Lucy Letby worked have been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.
They were in senior roles at the Countess of Chester Hospital in 2015 and 2016 and have been bailed pending further enquiries, Cheshire Constabulary said. Their names have not been made public.
Letby, 35, was found guilty of murdering seven children and attempting to murder seven more between June 2015 and June 2016 while working in the hospital’s neonatal unit.
Detective Superintendent Paul Hughes explained that gross negligent manslaughter focuses on the “action or inaction of individuals”.
There is also an investigation into corporate manslaughter at the hospital, which began in October 2023.
That focuses on “senior leadership and their decision-making”, Mr Hughes said. The intention there is to determine whether any “criminality has taken place concerning the response to the increased levels of fatalities”.
The scope was widened to include gross negligence manslaughter in March of this year.
Image: Lucy Letby was found guilty of murdering seven children and attempting to murder seven more
Mr Hughes said it is “important to note” that this latest development “does not impact on the convictions of Lucy Letby for multiple offences of murder and attempted murder”.
He added: “Both the corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter elements of the investigation are continuing and there are no set timescales for these.
“Our investigation into the deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies at the neo-natal units of both the Countess of Chester Hospital and the Liverpool Women’s Hospital between the period of 2012 to 2016 is also ongoing.”
Earlier this year, lawyers for Lucy Letby called for the suspension of the inquiry, claiming there was “overwhelming and compelling evidence” that her convictions were unsafe.
Their evidence has been passed to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, and Letby’s legal team hopes her case will be referred back to the Court of Appeal.
As we pulled back the hospital curtain, he was hunched over and clearly in pain.
He had climbed off the hospital bed to greet us with a polite smile, then hobbled back to lie down again.
Every breath was uncomfortable, but he wanted to share the horrible reality of knife crime.
Image: The young knife attack victim in Manchester
“I’ve never in my life been stabbed so I don’t know how it’s meant to even feel,” he said.
“The pain came when I realised the blood’s just spitting out of the side of my rib cage and that’s when I started panicking.
“My lungs felt like they were filled with blood… I thought each breath that I take, I’m going to drown in my own blood.
“I just felt as though I was slowly slipping away.”
Paramedics helped save his life and got him to the hospital in Manchester.
Sky News cannot name the young victim or go into the details of the attack because the police are investigating his case.
We were alongside a support worker called Favour, who is part of a growing team called Navigators. They go into hospitals to help young victims of violence.
While checking on how his recovery is going, she gently asked what he wanted to do next.
“You should have the right to feel safe,” she said to him.
“So don’t blame yourself for what happened… we are going to be there to help you.”
Image: Favour talks with the victim
‘Scarring and traumatic’
In a corridor outside the major trauma ward at the Manchester Royal Infirmary, Favour said: “They are often scared, often really tired from being in hospital.
“It does stay with you, not just for a couple of weeks, but it can go on for months, years, because it is something very scarring and traumatic.
“Having someone to talk to, being able to be very vulnerable with… that can lead you to find different spaces that are safe for you, can make a huge difference.”
In the adjacent Children’s Hospital in Manchester, we met the clinical lead at the Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit.
Image: Support worker Favour is part of a team called Navigators
Dr Rachel Jenner is a senior consultant who expanded her emergency department work into the wider mission of violence reduction after treating one particular young stab victim.
“When he arrived at the hospital, he was obviously very distressed and stressed,” she said. “A little bit later on, when things were stable, I asked him if he wanted me to call his mum.
“When I asked that question, he just kind of physically crumpled on the bed and just looked like the vulnerable child that he was, and that was really impactful for me.”
Image: Dr Rachel Jenner
‘Positive results’
The Violence Reduction Unit was established in 2019 with a commitment from the city’s authorities to work together better to prevent violence and deal with it efficiently when it occurs.
Dr Jenner still treats young knife crime victims, but revealed the number of stab-related admissions is falling in her hospital.
“The trend is downwards,” she confirmed. “We’ve definitely seen some positive results.”
The latest statistics in England and Wales show the number of hospital admissions for assault by a sharp object fell by 3% to 3,735 admissions in the year ending September 2024.
“We’re never complacent,” Dr Jenner said. “You reality check yourself all the time, because obviously if… someone gets stabbed, then it’s quite possible that I’ll be treating them.”
She said the Navigators are crucial to working with young patients.
“They have a really different way of engaging with young people, they’re much better at it than many other professionals,” she said.
“It’s not a one-size-fits-all model, they actually wrap around that support according to circumstances… that’s a really positive improvement.”
Tacking violence ‘like infectious disease’
Dr Jenner added: “We try and take a public health approach to violence reduction. In the same way that we would address an infectious disease, if we can use those methods and principles to look at violence.
“Not just reacting when it happens, but actually looking at how we can prevent the disease of violence, that in the long term will have a bigger impact.”
The key is teamwork, Dr Jenner said. Collaboration between the police, community leaders, victim support, health workers and people in education has noticeably improved.
The hospital also sends consultants into schools to teach pupils how to stop bleeds as part of an annual nationwide initiative that reaches 50,000 young people.
At a Stop The Bleed session in Bolton, Greater Manchester, we met 11 and 12-year-olds growing up with the threat of knife crime.
One Year 7 boy said: “There was a stabbing quite near where I live so it does happen, but it’s very crucial to learn how to stop this bleed and how to stop deaths.”
Another two friends talked about a boy their age who had been involved in an incident with a knife.
“No one would expect it for someone that young,” one said. “They’re just new to high school, fresh out of primary, and they shouldn’t just be doing that, too young.”
Image: Sanaa Karajada
‘We are dealing with it every day’
Their school has decided to tackle the problem of knife crime head-on rather than pretend it isn’t affecting their pupils.
The pastoral lead at the school, Sanaa Karajada, told Sky News: “We are dealing with it every single day, so we have policies and procedures in place to prevent any escalations in our schools or in the community.
“It is very, very worrying and it’s upsetting that [students] are having to go through this, but you know we’ve got to be realistic… if we are shying away from it, we’re just saying it’s not a problem.
“But it is a problem within the community, it’s a problem in all of the UK.”
The government has pledged to halve knife crime within a decade.
These signs of progress may offer some hope, but there is still so much work to do.