P&O Ferries expecting busy bank holiday

P&O Ferries is expecting a busy bank holiday period as travellers take advantage of the last long weekend of the summer.

Despite predictions that many Britons will be taking breaks at home this year, the ferry operator expects its passenger numbers over the August bank holiday to be higher than last year.

The Dover to Calais ferry route is expected to prove particularly popular among overseas travellers.

Speaking to the Press Association, P&O Ferries' sales and marketing director Simon Johnson said: "We'll be a few per cent up on the number of passengers, cars and coaches carried over the bank holiday.

"Our services from Dover alone will carry close to 140,000 passengers over the weekend."

The company also provides access to mainland Europe with its ferries to Zeebrugge and Rotterdam from Hull and its Portsmouth to Bilbao ferry route.

At the beginning of the summer, P&O Ferries revealed that its crossings had regularly been more than five per cent busier than last year as people took overseas trips to escape the poor weather at home.

Written by Andrew Smith