Bland's bus driver was stuck in queue of coaches at The Port of Dover

A bus driver for Bland’s was part of a school trip stuck for hours at The Port of Dover.

Dave Stewart, 26, works for the Essendine-based company and was assigned to take a school party on their trip to the Italian Alps.

But rather than boarding a ferry for their allotted 9.30pm Channel crossing, Dave and his passengers were stuck for 24 hours in a queue at the gridlocked port.

It meant the journey - which would normally take about 18 hours - took 58 hours.

Dave, who shared the driving with a colleague at Bland's, said: “The pupils, who came from a school in Bristol, were very excited to start with and, to be fair to them, they were not badly behaved at all considering the amount of time they'd had to wait.

"Their teachers were very good and because the port was like a car park we were able to play football and netball, and did some dancing to kill time and keep the children from becoming bored.

"There was a bit of singing too, but I'm not very tuneful and so left them to get on with that!"

Dave remained in good spirits but wasn't impressed by the port's response to the situation.

"They only gave us two six packs of water for a whole coach-load of children," he said.

"I ended up walking to Morrisons about 30 minutes away with some of the teachers, where we bought sandwiches and drinks for everyone on the coach.

"It at least gave us a change of scenery."

Dave has been a coach driver for eight years, and enjoys being able to sightsee and experience some of the destinations he visits.

"When you get somewhere, it's good to make the most of seeing the area," he said.

"While we were in the Alps I had a day's skiing, which was a chance to stretch my legs. I'm an average skiier and can pootle about without falling over."

After nearly a week in Italy, the school party made its way back to the UK, with Dave describing the return journey as "an absolute dream" compared with the outward trip.

"We boarded a 10pm ferry and the children slept most of the way home," he said.

A spokesperson for The Port of Dover described the delays at the start of the Easter school holidays as 'a critical incident', adding that high volumes of traffic, combined with extended processing at border controls, resulted in lengthy delays for coach passengers.

They apologised for the delays and said they had, through ferry operators and the port, provided food and drink to coach passengers.