Dan Snow, son of retired BBC TV presenter, Peter Snow has been told to stop transporting British travellers stranded by the closure of Europe’s air space, across the Channel by boat.

TV Historian, Dan, 31, led a fleet of five RIBs over to Calais on Sunday, with proceeds from passenger donations going to charity.

Organised using social media site Twitter.com and an email address on Hotmail, Dan used his media profile to arrange the boats and announce the mission on the BBC in a single day.

However by Sunday, French authorities had stepped in to prevent the full complement of 43 passengers from boarding. 

The final tweet said: Calais rescue is over and out!
Thank you for all your support.

In total, three RIBs returned to Dover carrying 23 people.

Ferry companies are organising extra journeys and Eurostar has laid on extra trains for passengers stuck on the Continent as a result of the Icelandic volcano eruption last week.

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