GRANT Shapps has warned of even worse travel disruption over Easter weekend, especially in Dover, and expressed "concern" over the operators' staff shortages.

Brits have faced queues up to nine hours in Dover after P&O Ferry sacked 800 of their staff at short notice.

This has led to the suspension of P&O Ferry services, affecting thousands of passengers.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, the Transport Secretary said: "I think certainly this weekend will be extremely busy on our roads, potentially at our ports – of course, particularly at Dover, where P&O disgracefully sacked all of their staff and then attempted to run ships which wouldn't have been safe with the replacement below minimum wage staff they tried to hire quickly – and we know that none of their ships are running at the moment.

"So I do expect there to be disruption, with no thanks to P&O there."

Mr Shapps also said: "I am very concerned that the operators – I'm talking about the airlines, the airports, the ports – do ensure that they get back to strength and quickly."

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"They lost a lot of people during the pandemic. We have been warning them for a long time that they would need to gear up again and I'm very keen to make sure that they do everything possible to manage what I realised will be – and always is in fact, the Easter weekend – a very busy weekend on our transport system."

Long queues are yet to end at airports across the UK, as Brits are STILL being forced to wait hours to board their flights.

One man at Stansted Airport said: "Security chaos. Nowhere near enough staff or lanes open.

"Now people panicking because they are missing flights due to security chaos."

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Another passenger told Mail Online: "It is 2am and my 6 and 9 year old are in tears. They have closed all the e- terminals, and have (it looks like) 15 manned desks open. The queue is going at a snail's pace."

Someone who was travelling through Birmingham Airport wrote: "Arrived 3 hours prior for a European flight at @bhx_official and sill were late for boarding! Kids were exhausted even before got to the plane."

Another person added: "Queues at @bhx_official are a joke! Hardly any security gates open. If I didn't have priority security no way I'd make my flight and I got here as early as I could check in."

More than 70 flights have been cancelled today, with easyJet and British Airways passengers affected.

Experts have warned so many employees were laid off during the pandemic that airports and airlines are struggling to train new recruits in time for the great summer getaway.

EasyJet boss Johan Lundgren said there would have been fewer recent cancellations if the recruitment system had been sorted out earlier.

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TUI is launching a new scheme that will let passengers drop their bags off the night before their flight to try and avoid the airport queues.

And Brits are also being forced to cancel their holidays due to long delays with their passport renewals – here is the date you need to apply by to get it back in time for the summer holidays.

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