Eurotunnel has urged hundreds of day-trippers to France to postpone their journeys on Friday because the army needs space for British soldiers coming home for Christmas.

The company is contacting more than 500 people planning to travel on the cross-Channel Shuttle service to ask them not to go in order to avoid congestion.

About, 3,000 service personnel and their families are due back in the UK on Christmas leave - most of them are travelling this weekend.

Some passengers switched to the ferry

Eurotunnel said the busiest period would be between 1800 GMT on Friday and 1000 GMT on Saturday. The company is running four extra trains at this time to cope with the extra passengers, but some have decided to take the ferry to avoid the crush.

One would-be passenger who contacted the BBC said that at first he was told the cancellation was due to a computer error - but a contact within Eurotunnel revealed the true position.

He was offered a full refund and a free trip at a later date.

The company said anyone who wants to go ahead with their journey can do so - but at risk of serious delay. Those who choose not to travel will be offered a full refund as well as another ticket for travel at a later date.

A Eurotunnel spokesperson said this situation has never arisen before and was caused by human error. "We just didn't think about the military situation in Bosnia and its knock-on effects on our service," said Eurotunnel's spokesperson, Delia Ponter.

The Ministry of Defence said places on the Shuttle had been bought as usual, and the way Eurotunnel ran its business was the company's concern.

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