P&O Ferries: Larne-Cairnryan service hit following vessel "drifting" at sea

Plans for the re-instatement of a full P&O Ferries service between Larne and Cairnryan have been hit by the European Causeway being tugged after suffering a "mechanical issue".

The vessel was detained in March and deemed unfit to sail by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) due to what it described as “failures on crew familiarisation, vessel documentation and crew training”.

Only a fortnight ago the vessel was able to return to service, and it is only in the last few days that P&O Ferries has been able to return the route to a full operation with the European Highlander coming back after an inspection.

According to reports, the European Causeway vessel was “drifting” at sea for several hours before the RNLI launched a lifeboat to assist it.

In response to a tweet by MP Karl Turner, P&O Ferries said a full inspection will now take place after the vessel was tugged back to port.