A court in the United States has decided that a cargo ship which sank after a collision in the English Channel in December, 2002, was partly to blame for the accident.

Tricolor was carrying 3,000 cars when it sank in 25 metres of water after colliding with the container ship Kariba 20 miles north of the French coast.

In 2006, the court, in the Southern District of New York, ruled that Kariba was 100 per cent to blame, but in July, last year, the US Circuit Court of Appeals held that all three ships involved were responsible.

Now the district court has apportioned 63 per cent of the blame to the container ship Kariba, 20 per cent to the bulk carrier Clary, and 17 per cent to Tricolor.

The judge said all three ships "committed navigational errors that caused the Kariba and Tricolor to collide and the Tricolor to capsize and sink".

He also said the speed of the Tricolour was a contributory factor.

Estimated to be £25m, the salvage operation was one of the most costly in history.