P&O Ferries has reintroduced one of its ships on the Dover to Calais route.

The Spirit of France recently completed an annual refit and returned to service on Monday.

It means there were will be 184 sailings this week and there are now four ships in service.

A spokesman for the firm said: "P&O Ferries aims to provide customers with the best possible ferry experience and in line with these aims we undertake an annual refit of our ships in the Dover – Calais rotation.

"The Spirit of France has recently completed its scheduled annual refit and has rejoined service on the Dover to Calais route."

They added having four ships in service enables the firm to "increase and decrease the number of sailings in line with demand".

A Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesman also confirmed its surveyors carried out a full inspection across two days on the Spirit of France.

"This was to make sure the vessel complied with international regulations on manning and safe operation, in particular, emergency procedures such as firefighting and evacuating the ship," they said.

More than 800 P&O workers were told last year their contracts were being terminated, and that they would be replaced by a 'third party' crewing company.

The move was justified to the devastated workers over a scripted video call as being due to the company making losses of more than £200 million in two years.