Threat of bomb attack on Channel ferry 'not backed by credible information'

Downing Street tried to calm fears of an imminent bomb attack on cross-Channel ferries yesterday after Dover and other ports were warned of a "possible terrorist act".

A leaked circular to ports issued by Transec, the security division of the Department of Transport, referred to a recent warning from the French and Dutch authorities of a potential bombing. The warning is understood to have been based on advice from the FBI that a lorry carrying a bomb could attempt to board a ferry.

Although the British authorities concluded there was no "credible information or intelligence" to support the claim, their circular pointed out the need to maintain increased vigilance in the "heightened security environment".

Robin Dodridge, a port security officer at Dover, said there was a search of the port on Friday after police and the immigration services warned of a "general bomb threat" in which Dover was mentioned. "It referred to Dover but made no mention of any specific vessel," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

While travellers at the Calais cross-Channel ferry terminal were anxious yesterday, their concern was not the al-Qa'ida network but the effect of torrential rain on an already delayed schedule. Most of those preparing to board the 4.15pm Sea France service were unaware of the alert.

Ann Callis, a club steward at Wellington College, Berkshire, said no special security arrangements appeared to have been taken at Dover. "We were directed into a yard and asked if it was a day trip," she said. "And did we have anything in the boot of the car?" Ms Callis and Brian Wiggins, a retired British Airways engineer, who had driven to Dover together, said they would not be deterred by the terror warnings.

She said: "You wouldn't go outside your front door if you were threatened by this."

But Barbara Slaytor, 44, from Bedfont, west London, thought the warnings might have cut the numbers of passengers. "There are a lot less people than you would expect in the build-up to Christmas."

The threat of an attack on Britain by a "rogue state" such as Iraq heightened the need for a missile defence system, Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary , said last night. In a speech to the Foreign Policy Centre in London, he said such a system was "in the interests of the UK and its people, just as much as it is in the interests of the United States".

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, will warn Saddam Hussein today that he has until 8 December to reveal the extent of his weapons arsenal "or choose confrontation".