Damage done to the Channel Tunnel in the fire two weeks ago is so bad that is likely to be at least six months before it re-opens and could take far longer.

That is the bleak assessment of fire chiefs, who have told councillors they regard the incident as far worse than the one in 1996.

Kent chief fire officer Bill Feeley briefed members of the Kent and Medway Fire Authority at a meeting during which councillors from KCC and Medway council were shown graphic photographs of the damage taken by firefighters at the scene.

The briefing was held behind closed doors but sources have told the Kent Messenger Group they were told the fire was far more severe than has yet been acknowledged, as is the damage.

The photographs distributed at the meeting reveal the fire’s intensity was such that in some parts, it completely stripped away the tunnel lining back to the supporting steel structures.

Sources say the meeting was left in little doubt that the fire was by far the most serious to have happened in the tunnel.

Meanwhile, KCC warned any prolonged closure of the tunnel risked gridlock in the county.