CROSS-CHANNEL travel was again in chaos last night as a blockade by French fishermen closed key ports.

As travellers waited in vain for a crossing, P&O Ferries cancelled Dover to Calais sailings.

There were no services from the UK into the French ports of Boulogne and Dunkirk.

On the M20, in Kent, police again introduced Operation Stack – a queuing system for lorries.

As P&O explored the possibility of seeking compensation for the disruption from French authorities, lines of cars and coaches were parked at Dover’s Eastern Docks.

Margaret Eden, 62, of Stourbridge, in the West Midlands, was forced to sleep in her car alongside her husband Tony, 64, after arriving in Dover yesterday evening to discover the ferries to Dunkirk had been suspended.

Mrs Eden said: “It’s typical. Every time there’s a problem, the French try to blockade the ports and stop the tourists going to France, but we have no say over the issue. They strike to show everyone there’s a problem, but don’t bother about who is caught up in it. There is nothing we can do.”

P&O spokesman Brian Rees said: “I cannot remember a blockade quite as bad as this, and we are looking at the possibility of seeking compensation from the French authorities.

“We have been in touch with the Foreign Office and also with French politicians. We have got our lawyers looking at whether there is an avenue for us to seek compensation from the French government.”

One French union was reported to be attempting to blockade the Channel Tunnel today.

The French fleets are taking the action in a dispute over fishing quotas.

A spokesman for tunnel operator Eurotunnel said: “We don’t expect the French police to allow any blockade.”

Eurotunnel services and trains run by Channel Tunnel high-speed train company Eurostar were unaffected by yesterday’s industrial action.