It is one of the simplest of pleasures for children during the holidays.

All you need is a crabbing line, a net, a bucket and some bacon scraps, then hey presto. Drop the line over a jetty, pontoon, pier or sea wall and within minutes, if you know where to go, the shelled creatures are nibbling away ready to be pulled up.

But no longer at the Felixstowe ferry after social distancing rows have broken out between crabbers and jetty users on both sides at the mouth of the River Deben.

Suffolk County Council have backed the operators of the Felixstowe foot ferry and banned crabbing on safety grounds after the owner said explained: "It is a working jetty and crabbers were not obeying the Covid restrictions."

People working in and around the ferry confirmed seeing crabbers on the pontoons and jetties were often very close those working the boats, and passengers waiting to use the foot ferry and not observing the two-metre social distancing rule.

The move at Felixstowe follows issues at Walberswick, which is famed for its crabbing, when parents with their youngsters clashed with pedestrians on a narrow bridge, over social distance arguments.