French strike hits UK travellers

Most public services in France have been affected by the strike

UK travellers are facing delays with a general strike in France hitting cross-channel ferries and airports.

Many flights from the UK to French national and regional airports have been cancelled with low-cost carrier Ryanair cancelling more than 70.

Hundreds of Britons have also been left stranded in Spain because of striking French air-traffic controllers.

The strike, against new rules which make it easier to sack young workers, has hit most public sectors.

Many of Ryanair's cancelled flights are from Stansted to regional airports at Bergerac, Grenoble, Montpelier, Nantes and Perpignan.

Flights from Liverpool and Luton have also been hit.

I was meant to be home two days ago and I'm still standing in this queue and don't know when I'll get home Olivia Simpson

Flights at southern Spanish airports, including Almeria, Granada and Malaga, were also disrupted as British holidaymakers queued for hours only to be told they would have to wait days for another flight.

Ryanair said it would refund passengers' tickets and provide compensation for travel and hotel bills.

Drama student Olivia Simpson, 22, from London, who was on holiday near Granada, said: "It's really frustrating and no-one is telling us anything.

"I was meant to be home two days ago and I'm still standing in this queue and don't know when I'll get home."

Postal workers and train drivers joined teachers and students across France to call on the government to drop the new arrangements.

They accuse the government of trying to take away job security rights by making it easier to sack workers under the age of 26.

The government says the main aim of the legislation is to make it easier to hire school leavers.