British tourists trapped in Calais by French militants

More than 50 furious British tourists stranded on the Continent after the ash cloud grounded flights were held captive in a Calais railway station by militant French workers.

The drama erupted after ferry company Norfolk Line sent a coach to Calais to transport the travellers 30 miles to Dunkirk to sail them to Dover.

Calais unions refused to let the holidaymakers board the bus, insisting they should sail from Calais ferry port instead.

After an hour's stand-off, the Calais protesters finally allowed the British to board the coach to Dunkirk with a guarantee that Norfolk Lines would not be sending any other coaches.

Norfolk Lines spokesman Michael McAuley said: "Our mission was to tget them home, and seeing as the port of Calais was saturated with travellers, they asked us to step in."

But Calais Chamber of Commerce union leader Herve Caux, who led the workers, said: "These tourists arrived at Calais station with the aim of taking a ferry home. But outside the station, coaches from Norfolk ferries were waiting to take them to Dunkirk.

"As far as we are concerned, there is a perfectly good port and ferry company in Calais to do just that."

One 30-year-old British man who was with his wife and two young daughters said: "I was furious.
We have just spent 30 hours getting to calais from Atlanta. I had no idea what was going on, I just wanted to get home."