Bosses at P&O Ferries are considering using Ostend to beat any future action by French fishermen at Calais.

The Pride of Dover ferry is travelling to Belgium for berthing trials to find out whether it fits at the port.

P&O spokesman Brian Rees said the company was fed up with the disruption caused by the fishermen at Calais.

He said: "There's no law saying we only have to use Calais. We don't know if the Pride of Dover and her sister ship the Pride of Calais will fit there, and there is only one way to find out so we are sending the ferry to Ostend for berthing trials."

It comes after a week of misery for travellers through Kent as Operation Stack was introduced on the M20 due to a channel blockade.

Hundreds of freight vehicles were waiting to cross the channel, and holiday makers and day-trippers were also delayed.

But disruption in and around the motorway was nowhere near as bad as it's been in the past.

A spokesman for Kent Police said there were a number of reasons why.

The time of year helped, with holiday traffic always less than normal. The police also went straight into phase two of Stack, meaning there was more space for waiting lorries, plus the Channel Tunnel is now operating at full capacity, after a serious fire several months ago, taking 150 lorries off the road each hour.

She added: "It also helped that the fishermen were lifting the blockade over night. This meant it was not a continual run of Stack and eased the situation."