The no-deal Brexit ferry fiasco could cost the taxpayer an extra £28m if there is a delay to Britain leaving the EU, according to reports.
The controversial process of establishing contracts for extra services in the event of a hard departure have already seen a row over the collapse of a contract with Seaborne Freight, which had no ferries, and a £33 million out-of-court settlement with Eurotunnel.
And there is now the prospect of further expense from the plans put in place by Chris Grayling’s Department of Transport after MPs voted to instruct Theresa May to seek an extension to Article 50.
The cost of a delay to Brexit beyond March 29 could amount to £28 million, the Financial Times reported.
Brittany Ferries has contracts worth £46.6 million under the deal and said the terms "included fair and proportionate compensation in a deal scenario, taking account of the significant preparatory work and concomitant costs incurred by Brittany Ferries".
The firm has already "incurred a series of direct costs and resource commitments" and "the new schedule cannot now be changed, even as an extension to Article 50 seems likely".
Additional staff had been employed while more than 20,000 existing bookings had been changed, the firm noted.
A Department for Transport spokesman said: "As the Prime Minister has made clear, the legal default in UK and EU law remains that the UK will leave the EU without a deal unless something else is agreed.
"Leaving with a deal is still our priority, but as a responsible Government it is only right that we push on with contingency measures, that will ensure critical goods such as medicines can continue to enter the UK.
"The Government has always been clear that any extra capacity that is not used, can be sold back to the market."
A National Audit Office memorandum on the contracts also noted the potential problems caused by a delay to Article 50.
"If the date of the UK's Exit from the EU changes, and there is still the possibility of a no-deal EU Exit, the Department will need to decide how it wishes to proceed with the contracts," the NAO said in February.
"There is no provision for the start date to be delayed, but the Department may seek to negotiate this with the operators."
The contracts seek to ensure medicines and other vital supplies can continue to reach the UK in the event of a no-deal Brexit causing chaos on the short Dover-Calais and Channel Tunnel routes, the Government has stated.
