PASSENGERS who had planned to travel to Ireland 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 on Anglesey 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 people travelling home for Christmas. Kim Ward, a paediatric nurse from Co Monaghan, Ireland, 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 21. 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.
"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 hi...
All ferry services between Dublin and Holyhead are currently cancelled, affecting thousands of people travelling home for Christmas. Kim Ward, a paediatric nurse from Co Monaghan, Ireland, 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 21. 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.
"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 hi...
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Daily Post (Digital) - 1 Issue, December 19, 2024