P&O Ferries’ 4,000 employees are celebrating after the company won two awards for being Britain’s leading ferry operator.

They were presented to the company by TV star David Walliams, in a ceremony attended by 1,100 people at London’s Grosvener House Hotel.

The two accolades, voted by the public and travel industry experts respectively,, were part of the Globe Travel Awards 2017.

P&O Ferries, based at Channel House in Channel View Road, Dover, was named Britain’s Favourite Ferry Company in a category voted for by readers of the Daily Mail.

The company also beat a number of other operators to be named Best Ferry Company in a category voted for by readers of the travel trade magazine Travel Weekly.

Janette Bell, managing director of P&O Ferries, said: “We were delighted to win these two awards which were voted for by the people who know our ships and services best.”

“Our company is 180 years old this year and we have always believed that travelling by sea should be fun.

"We believe that the journey is just as important as the destination, something which sets us apart from a budget airline.”

“Together with the outstanding customer service provided by our crew, it helps to explain why we have once again been voted as Britain’s number one ferry company.”

Apart from providing a Dover-Calais crossing P&O also has sailings from Hull to Zeebrugge and Rotterdam as well as Liverpool to Dublin and Scotland to Northern Ireland.

It operates 20 vessels which carry more than 10 million passengers, 1.6 million cars and 2.2 million lorries every year.

Together with its logistics division, P&O Ferrymasters, the company also operates integrated road and rail links to countries across the continent including Italy, Poland and Romania.

David Walliams is a judge on the TV show Britain’s Got Talent and co-star of the comedy series Little Britain.

The BBC programme, which ran from 2003 to 2007, was famous for its starling characters with catchphrases such as “yeah but, no but” and “bit of a kerfuffle.”