Eurotunnel's parent company Getlink says its revenues were down 24% last year as the impact of the pandemic and travel restrictions bit hard.

In revealing its annual financial figures, the firm generated £721.3million in 2020 - down almost a quarter on 2019.

With much of the year seeing tough cross-Channel travel restrictions, the firm saw a 46% drop in cars using the service, a 71% dip in coaches and HGVs down 9%.

But the heavily reduced Eurostar service - run by a different company which pays to use the cross-Channel link - saw traffic drop by 77%.

Eurostar is facing its own struggles to survive, with an appeal currently being made to the government to help it survive the crisis.

As a result of the dip in traffic figures, Eurotunnel says revenues on its Le Shuttle service between Folkestone and Coquelles was down 17% to £460.95m.

However, Getlink's senior management were putting a positive spin on the revenues, saying the revenues were "good in difficult circumstances".

Yann Leriche, Getlink group's CEO, said: “This year’s revenue shows the commitment of the group’s teams, who have continued to innovate and adapt in order to continue providing excellent service to customers whatever the circumstances, particularly in regard to the Covid-19 health crisis”

There were some bright spots, however.

Freight traffic in December hit an all-time record with 40,000 trucks transported as they rushed to beat the end of the Brexit transition period.

Nearly 1.5m trucks used the service during 2020.

In comparison, 1.4m passenger vehicles used the service - a figure it was was "a remarkable number compared to our competitors". It says the figure represents a 70.1% share of the car cross-Channel market - up 13.2 points on the previous year.

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