Thousands of ferry passengers are stranded on both sides of the English Channel while workers at the port of Calais stage their second strike in a week over the sale of MyFerryLink to rival Danish shipping company, DFDS Seaways.
According to P&O Ferries, security at Calais has been "abandoned" and holiday makers are stuck in the middle.
Update: Port of #Calais still closed to all #ferry traffic http://t.co/47k4QBMxY9 @MyFerryLink @Eurotunnel #ports pic.twitter.com/iLQRXgVM3B
— IHS Safety At Sea (@IHS4SafetyAtSea) June 30, 2015
Meanwhile, the 3,000 migrants who are camping out near the port are hoping that the industrial action will give them a better chance to reach the UK.
Footage recently emerged of hundreds of migrants attempting to climb into vehicles held in long tailbacks on the roads leading to the port.
As the scenes were described by Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron as "unacceptable", what does Britain do? Sends two more miles of fence to keep migrants out of the UK.
Theresa May, the UK's home secretary told the British media that the government would try to send a "very clear message" that migrants living in the makeshift camp in Calais should not try to reach Britain illegally.
Not a Laughing Matter
France is insisting that stopping the migrants from traveling across the Channel should not be solely their responsibility and has recently called for the border to move to Britain.
Advice & interactive map for cross-Channel travellers facing disruption at #Calais: http://t.co/vV9oEcyCID pic.twitter.com/Igt0Co8BZO
— Dept for Transport (@transportgovuk) June 30, 2015
Last year the mayor of Calais, Natacha Bouchart, told British MPs that migrants in France see the UK as a "soft touch" and that the existing fences placed around the UK border controls in the city "make everybody laugh."
The industrial action by port workers has given the migrant situation in Calais more prominence — but while France and Britain swap anti-immigrant rhetoric, the voices of the ferry staff and the migrants remain ignored.
And for the 600 workers who face losing their job in two days' time, the situation could also be — in the words of Britain's Prime Minister- "unacceptable."
