P&O Ferries services from Dover to Calais will remain suspended for another week.

Bosses from the under-fire firm have today confirmed that journeys on any of their vessels to the French town have been cancelled until Good Friday.

The company - which suddenly sacked nearly 800 seafarers last month - is now telling affected passengers they can board DFDS ferries with their tickets.

A spokesman said: "Sailings on the Dover-Calais route have been cancelled up to and including April 14.

"Passengers can travel on DFDS with a P&O ticket, or you can request a refund.

"In Dover you can just show up at DFDS - you just need to show them your P&O ticket.

"In Calais, you will need to go to a P&O check in and we will check you in."

P&O Ferries had previously said they had hoped to resume sailings this week after they were initially suspended on March 17.

Today's update is the latest issue the Port of Dover has had to contend with in recent days.

Thousands of hauliers are being held in lengthy queues towards the town, as they are made to join Operation Brock's 20-mile line of trucks between Junctions 8 and 11 of the M20.

The traffic management system - which was launched last month - has been overwhelmed since the beginning of April amid poor weather, an Easter traffic spike and IT issues.

Leaders of the Kent Resilience Forum (KRF), which manages Operation Brock, recommended yesterday that anyone travelling to the coast to "be prepared for delays".

Its senior highways manager, Toby Howe, told BBC Breakfast: "Allow a lot of extra time.

"Make sure you’ve got some food and drink because there will be delays.

"A lot of the minor roads are choc-a-bloc. Be prepared for delays because there will be.

"But the port and Eurotunnel are getting everything out as quickly as they can.”

Mr Howe also explained that gridlock could hit the county again in the summer, if controls limiting entry into the Garden of England are not introduced.

Chris Parker from DFDS spoke last week about how they were trying to cope

"It shouldn’t be Kent that suffers every time we have these issues," he added.

"The summer is a worry. We need plans in place so we can restrict that traffic coming in.

"Hopefully when the ferries are back from P&O, that will assist as well.

"But there will always be some problems as we continue with this sort of thing, so we need plans in place to actually mitigate that before all that traffic comes to Kent."

Operation Brock allows lorries travelling to Dover to use one side of the M20, while all other traffic is restricted to a contraflow system in the London-bound carriageway.