An announcement on the future of stricken ferry firm SeaFrance has been put back until next Tuesday.

A French court was due to decide today whether a bid by a cooperative of employees from the ferry company was enough to save - the firm - which has been put into administration.

But SeaFrance today said a decision had been delayed until next Tuesday - to give the courts time to consider the options.

South East MEP Richard Ashworth said it would be a great loss to lose a competitor which runs services from the Port of Dover - but it would be a big task for the cooperative to find a way to make massive savings.

He said: "Even the cooperative with their proposals have said that if the company is to break even, crossing fares will have to increase by 50 euros, which is clearly untenable when you have rival competition, so prospects don't look particularly good."

He added: "It would be the beginning of the problems not the end but I wish them luck if they can find a way to make savings - but almost certainly a part of that scenario will have to be shedding jobs."