Talks to save the Dover-based cross-Channel ferry operator SpeedFerries have failed, it has been revealed.

The company is going into liquidation, with the loss of 100 jobs at Dover.

Administrators appointed nearly two weeks ago had been having talks with at least two other companies which had expressed an interest in buying SpeedFerries.

One was said to be have been "very, very interested".

But staff have now been told that both offers have been withdrawn, and the company is to fold.

Dover MP Gwyn Prosser described it as a sad day for the town and for the staff, many of whom, he said, were new to the industry.

He said he was arranging for a specialist employment unit to contact the staff to advise them on what could be done.

The company’s only craft, Speed One, which had been detained at Boulogne was released last Thursday and is now at Tilbury.

Joint administrators Angela Swarbrick and Tom Burton said the ferry had been released as a result of an order made by the Commercial Court in Boulogne.

They had said that the release of Speed One and its return to England would greatly assist in their efforts to achieve a sale of the business.

Now those hopes have now been dashed.

The company went into administration on Thursday November 13 over unpaid port dues and taxes in Boulogne.

It is understood that Dover Harbour Board was also about to take legal action to recover a six-figure sum which was owed by SpeedFerries.