FERRY services from Hythe to Southampton were back in business within hours of Saturday's accident that put Hythe Pier out of action.

Peter Lay, director of White Horse ferries - which operates the ferries and owns the pier - said the company was currently operating from Hythe Marina and was intending to lay on a bus shuttle service between the pier and marina for passengers.

And he pledged: "We will do the best job we can with the resources and infrastructure available to us."

The company, which carries over 650,000 passengers a year on the Hythe-Southampton route, was yesterday waiting for the Marine Safety Agency to inspect the Hythe Marina facilities and signal the all-clear for them to continue to be used.

But Mr Lay said: "The most important issue is that no one was hurt as a result of the collision.

"We were operating two ferries at the time because of the number of passengers due to Southampton playing at home.

"The last vessel, Hotspur IV, had discharged 24 passengers prior to the collision and all of these passengers were either off the Hythe Pier or on the landward side and well away from the point of collision."

He said nobody had been trapped at the other end of the pier - apart from the crew of the Hotspur IV who were taken off by launch.

Mr Lay added: "We don't know the cause and couldn't comment on that. It is being investigated by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch and the Marine Safety Agency, Hampshire Police Marine Unit and the Port Authority."

The director said the company needed to survey the whole length of the pier but a visual inspection suggested that either side of the 80ft damaged section appeared sound.

The company's intention would be to repair the damage with all haste, but there were a number of piles that had been damaged.

Mr Lay said: "It is a relatively simple structure, It is a question of scheduling the works and how quickly we can mobilise marine plant to replace the damaged piles and to fabricate and replace the tie bar structures below decks and then re-deck the pier."

Asked about cost, he said: "Anything of a marine nature tends not to be cheap."

But he added that the company's insurers had been informed, together with the insurers of the operators of the dredger.

Mr Lay said: "Safety is a matter we take extremely seriously and, thankfully, nobody was injured as a result of this incident. The safety record of the Hythe ferry service is very good.

"We have an extremely good relationship with the Port Authority and we will work with the Marine Safety Agency and the Marine Accident Investigation Branch to understand how this happened and how we can minimise the risk of it happening again."

Hythe-based secretary for White Horse Ferries Sarah Marsden told the Daily Echo that the pier had been cut in half and there was a gap of about 80ft.

She said: "It happened at 6.10pm. We had just got the last of the football supporters off."