By Lynn Rusk, PA
Irish passengers who had planned to travel home via the storm-damaged Holyhead ferry port this Christmas are having to make “costly” new arrangements due to its closure.
Damage to the busy ferry port in Anglesey, North Wales, during Storm Darragh earlier this month is feared to be worse than originally thought, resulting in its closure until January 15 at the earliest.
All ferry services between Dublin and Holyhead are currently cancelled, affecting thousands of Irish people travelling home from the UK for Christmas.
Kim Ward, a paediatric nurse from Co Monaghan, has had to make costly alternative arrangements to travel home with her dog Ziggy.
The 28-year-old, who lives in London, had initially planned to travel by train and ferry from Holyhead to Dublin.
After learning that she could not travel from Liverpool as a foot passenger, Ms Ward and her partner Shannon Foley decided to drive to Liverpool to catch a ferry with Ziggy.
Ms Foley, also a nurse, has borrowed her cousin’s car and will drop them in Dublin before crossing back to Liverpool and driving back to London to work.
“I was supposed to go on December 21st. It’s normally a 12-hour journey, door to door, so I get the train from London and travel as a foot passenger,” Ms Ward told the PA news agency.
“I have a pet cabin to bring the dog into, because over the years I put him into the kennels and he’s just been traumatised.
“I called Stena Line multiple times over the last few days to see if there was any way that I could get an earlier ferry on one of the other routes from either Fishguard or Liverpool.
“They wouldn’t let me because it wasn’t confirmed for Saturday that the sailings weren’t going.”
“Myself and my partner are both nurses and we were lucky to get this Christmas off,” she said.
“We are planning on borrowing my partner’s cousin’s car and driving to Liverpool. She’s added her name to his insurance.
“She’s going to cross to Dublin to drop me and the dog off, then go from Dublin to Liverpool again and she’s got to travel back to London again as she has to finish her shifts before Christmas. She will then fly to Ireland on Christmas Eve.”
She added: “I’ve worked so many Christmases so when you actually have the opportunity to have a Christmas off, you don’t know how many years it’s going to come before you have another one off, you have to spend it with your family.
“It’s very costly but it will be worth it.”
Ms Ward said the weather could not be helped but she criticised the communication from Stena Line which she said could have been better.
Pete Reid, a project manager who is also from Co Monaghan, was due to travel home via Holyhead with his wife Emma.
Mr Reid, 40, who lives in London, has been offered an alternative crossing by Irish Ferries from Fishguard in Pembrokeshire, Wales, to Rosslare in Co Wexford.
“I had to cancel my hotel in Holyhead and had to rebook a hotel in South Wales to get to the port in Fishguard,” Mr Reid told PA.
“I’m going to drive down Friday night, sleep overnight in Wales, and then cross over the next day.
“I’ve just been told I will be put on a boat, I don’t know what time or what day. They haven’t told us anything.”
Holyhead’s closure follows damage to the Terminal 3 berth on December 6th during Storm Darragh.
In a statement, Stena Line, which owns the port, said it had been “working hard to provide alternative travel arrangements for customers during the busy festive period”.
“Stena Line is offering sailings for passengers and freight from Dublin to ports in Birkenhead and Fishguard.
“In addition, a new freight route from Dublin to Heysham has been added to assist continuity of trade flows.
“The company has also added additional sailings on the Belfast-Cairnryan route this weekend. Currently there is limited availability on the Belfast-Liverpool and Rosslare-Fishguard routes.
“Stena Line would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused and assure customers that the company is doing everything in its power to mitigate the effects of the closure on passenger and freight traffic.
“Customers are currently being contacted and affected passengers are advised to amend their booking online free of charge or through the Contact Centre on 0344 770 7070 (UK)/ + 353 1 907 5555 (ROI).”
Irish Ferries has been contacted for comment.