P&O Ferries has apologised after cancelling sailings throughout the Easter Bank Holiday weekend.

It is offering refunds for those who can't sail from ports outside Dover and Calais.

This is despite the company's initial hope of taking passengers on at least a couple of its ships from tomorrow.

And it raises fears of continued traffic chaos, like in the last fortnight, as holidaymakers struggle to get to Dover port.

The latest setback is after three safety failings recorded by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, one for the Spirit of Britain and two for the Pride of Kent.

A statement from P&O Ferries said today: “We apologise unreservedly to all customers whose scheduled journeys with us between Dover and Calais have been cancelled whilst we are unable to sail.

"It is only fair and right that we make alternative arrangements for those customers, which include transferring them onto our Hull-Europoort service to Rotterdam, or booking them onto services with Brittany Ferries between Portsmouth and Caen.

"Customers who booked with P&O can claim a refund."

“Both of these options are at no extra cost to customers – if anyone chooses either of these alternatives we will reimburse them for any additional mileage expenses incurred and as well as all meals on board our overnight crossing. Customers will also receive a 25% discount on their original fare.

“We also recognise that these options will not be suitable for everyone, therefore any customer who booked directly with P&O Ferries will be able to claim a full refund and a free trip for future travel.

“We thank customers for their patience during this time and apologise again to those whose journeys have been disrupted.”

A tweet from the ferry operator had said yesterday: "Our passenger services are suspended this weekend.

"We sincerely apologise, for travel 15-18April please re-book directly with another operator before arriving at the port. DFDS are not able to transfer PO customers onto their ships."

P&O Ferries has had no sailings across the Channel at all since it announced the instant mass sacking of 786 staff on March 17 in a brutal cost-cutting move.

The company had last Sunday said that the suspension of sailings would end after Good Friday.

But on Tuesday it was revealed that the Spirit of Britain failed its safety inspection and yesterday it was announced that the Pride of Kent failed a reinspection.

This was after it was detained on March 28 after not passing original checks.

A spokesman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said yesterday: “The Pride of Kent will remain detained following the reinspection of the ferry today which found a number of additional deficiencies including in safety systems and crew documentation.

"We have advised P&O to invite us back once they have addressed the issues. We do not know yet when this will be.”

P&O Ferries has been in deep trouble for the last month after the sackings, with staff replaced by cheaper labour, all of which caused a widespread backlash.

The company argued its action was needed to save it from collapse and so secure the jobs of its 2,200 remaining workers.

The seafarers' trade union RMT is working to agree a Fair Ferries Framework National Agreement with employers and the Government.

This is to establish trade union pay rates and terms and conditions as the minimum standard on international ferry routes from UK ports.

Mick Lynch, RMT general secretary said: “P&O’s claim that they had to sack our members on grounds of efficiency was always a ludicrous claim and has now been entirely blown out of the water.

“The Government must apply economic sanctions to P&O for the cost of their destructive actions and we need a Fair Ferries agreement in order to avoid any repeat of this type of gangster capitalist behaviour in the future.”

There have been four trade union-led demonstrations at Dover against the sackings.

A fifth takes place from the RMT offices at the town's Maritime House, Snargate Street, from 2pm next Tuesday.

The P&O ships left idle has caused traffic pandemonium in Kent over the last fortnight because of too few ships available, aggravated by the surge in demand for travel during the Easter school holiday period.

This has led to the need to bring in the traffic control systems Operation Brock, between Junctions 8 and 11 on the M20, and Dover TAP on the A20 between Aycliffe and Hawkinge.

The seafarers' trade union RMT is working to agree a Fair Ferries Framework National Agreement with employers and the Government to establish trade union pay rates and terms and conditions as the minimum standard on international ferry routes from UK ports

P&O Ferries is owned by DP World, a Dubai-based logistics giant.

It is a separate company to P&O Cruises, which is operated by Carnival UK.

P&O Cruises split from the ferries part of the business in 2000 and has been unaffected by the dismissals of March 17 and the follow-on events.