Calais-Dover: the Limits of Free Enterprise

As I write, there are apparently large numbers of people unable to fly back to the UK, queued up at Calais, trying to travel as foot passengers on the P&O ferry.

P&O have space for the people - I was last night told by their call centre that the quickest way to get family members back was to take a car out from Dover to Calais, turn round, pick up the family, then come back on the next ferry Calais to Dover. They had space to offer on any ferry I wished.

The problem, the P&O call centre agent explained to me, is with "loading" foot passengers (what a lovely image). Fair enough: with the Booze Cruise market much reduced, I guess there is not a lot of demand in normal times, but where is the Contingency Plan for abnormal times?

And where is the lateral thinking? There are stories this morning of passengers purchasing bicycles in Calais so that they count as "vehicle" passengers and can travel freely. From what I remember, bicycle passengers are asked to wheel their bikes onto the ferry rather than ride. So would it matter so terribly much if they were issued with bicycle-sized pieces of cardboard to carry instead of wheeling a bicycle-sized bicycle? And if that is accepted, would the piece of cardboard really have to be a full-sized image of a bicycle? Would an A4 picture of a bicycle really be much less valid?

And where is the entrepreneurial spirit among the coach operators of Calais? Why no £50-a-head Calais-Dover shuttle coaches using the SeaFrance ferry or Eurotunnel, neither of which take foot passengers?