OFFICIALS were last night frantically trying to work out where to send a flotilla of toxic ships headed for the North-East after the Government conceded it would be "impracticable" to turn them around.

The first two vessels from the so-called Ghost Fleet were last night 180 miles off Cape Finistere in Spain and are expected to enter British waters tomorrow or Sunday - but there is nowhere they can dock legally after the necessary licences were withdrawn.

Two more ships are near the Azores and due to enter the 12-mile limit patrolled by the UK coastguard on November 18.

The first two former US Navy vessels were due at Hartlepool on Tuesday but the Environment Agency said storing them at Able UK's Graythorp dock would breach international law.

An agency spokesman said: "At this stage we have absolutely no idea where they are going to go. We need to find a place where they can be maintained so they can be returned at the earliest possible opportunity.

"It has to be a pragmatic decision in terms of what is the best overall plan for these ships."

Earlier, Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett said: "While the Government believes that in the circumstances it would be preferable for the ships to be returned to the US while the regulatory issues are resolved, it recognises that the immediate return to the US of the first two ships would be impracticable.

"In the circumstances, we are exploring with the appropriate agencies, colleagues in Government and the US, how best to store the ships temporarily."

She added that US authorities had raised safety and liability concerns over the possible return of the second pair of ships to the US, but their status needed to be clarified.

On Wednesday, the High Court blocked any work on dismantling the ships until legal challenges from Friends of the Earth and three people who live near the Able UK site are heard next month.