Torrential winds and forceful gusts caused travel chaos for ferry goers last night.

The Port of Dover shut at 9pm after high force gales made sailing a dangerous form of travel.

The ferry rode the storm out overnight, causing severe delays for passengers on and off shore.

There was more than 1,042 passengers on board the Spirit of Britain vessel.

The ship waited in the Channel, in anticipation of the port re-opening when conditions settled.

Dover resident, Amy Jane, tweeted: “I feel for everyone who is stuck out at sea tonight!

“Hope you all stay safe and can get home for Christmas.”

Passenger Christiaan Triebert tweeted a picture of a packed departure lounge, with many setting up camp for the night.

He said: “Not home for Christmas #firstworldproblems.”

The Port re-opened shortly after 6am and the ship disembarked at half past.

P&O later tweeted: “Apologies to everyone caught up in the storm last night.

“Sailings slowly returning to normal with slight delays.”

Despite the havoc caused by the weather, the Port of Dover are trying to resume service so people can be where they want to be before Christmas Day.

The Port tweeted: “Port is open - The Port and ferry operators are now working together to get customers on their way before the Port closes for Christmas.”

One German passenger tweeted a picture of his ferry ticket, which states that he boarded the vessel at 5.45pm yesterday.

He tweeted at 10.29am, saying: “#UKStorm #Calais to #Dover.

“Start at six o clock arrived now in the UK.”

Spokesman for P&O, Chris Laming, said: "In such unusual circumstances our crews do their best to make passengers comfortable, dispensing free food and drink and we have obviously apologised for the inconvenience brought about by the hurricane.

"We also dispensed vouchers to passengers waiting in the port all night so they could obtain food and drink and we gave everyone a free breakfast on board their sailing to Calais this morning."