The absence of an essential crew member has meant that Wightlink has been forced to cancel 4 vehicle ferry sailings tomorrow morning (Tuesday). As a result of the crew member issue, the 06:40 & 08:40 from Portsmouth and the 07:40 & 09:40 have been pulled. A Wightlink spokesperson has said:
“We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience this action will cause but we have been unable to source short notice cover for the absent members of staff and so have taken this action as a last resort.”
I wish they would say what position the crew member holds
They write the information for most feeble excuse for the week ahead…..
The captains tea person I guess
Well I hope it’s not the person serving coffee.
Probably Roger the cabin boy.
The captain!
You have a choice of 3, The Captain, Chief Officer or Chief Engineer
You are right if one of the 3 is a no show the ship can not sail maritime regs
There are several Qualified Trinity House Pilots that Can and would have taken over for the day.
The Company should always have a standby, even if it is only for the Captain’s Tiger.
Any local marine pilot would have stood in for the day.
They are desperate to force the government into taking over. Their plan is to make it bad so government is forced to give them millions in handouts to keep the service running meaning more tax money into finance companies the other side of the world. Well done Tories, you are reaping what you sowed with all the privation. But at least you got a pile of cash out of it, F the next generation.
I think this is a case of wringing every last penny of profit before being nationalised. They know what’s coming with the ground swell of opinion on cost and performance. They have run the service into the ground, failed to maintain their fleet and fleeced their passengers. The tax payer will have to foot the bill for the privilege of getting a decent service at a fare price
And guess who the shareholders are? We are ruled by non-productive parasites.
Well said. Privatisation is ruining this country!!! It doesn’t work full stop!!!
They, and Red Funnel, must be running these ‘services’ on a very short shoestring if one person can prevent a sailing.
It’s obviously Wightlink’s turn on the rota to cause disruption.
Someone decides to call in sick to work, meaning someone has to rearrange how they’re going to get to the mainland for chemotherapy treatment. How this an acceptable way of running a ferry service?
But as they record cancellations as rescheduled times, they never fall below 99.9% reliability.. and promote that record at every opportunity.. don’t be fooled by the Wightlink apologies .. they are running the service to max each sailings profits .. too shareholders .. Silly Seely could never see this but the two new and better MP’s have twigged Wighlinks game ..
Apology not accepted…this is happening way too often…get a grip.
In other words those sailing weren’t busy enough so they cut them.
Ah, that time of the week again…
Why would they have a spare officer available? That would cost money.
Much better to cancel the crossings and save money by not burning all that fuel. Win win!
Is it the same person? A bit of moonlighting between companies perhaps.
Sounds to me that it is Master Mates running the show.
Bs.crew do more hours than that i know!! A whole day would be affected
So this was reported at 14:34, so it’s fair to say Wightlink knew considerably earlier and they can’t get someone on shift for tomorrow?
I’m not sure if this “exceptional person” has legal guidelines to the hours worked, days-on, days-off similar to a HGV driver?
But really!
if this was any other Business they would ring someone in to cover, or change the shifts around.
Come on Wightlink, who is that “Special”? why not be transparent and explain so people can understand and why can’t someone cover?
Your remaining slither of your reputation is spinning around the toilet bowl and all your doing is flushing it down the pan!
Get a grip and be clearer, you’re affecting people’s day-to-day lives at a hefty price!
Maybe the local populace could start causing disruption to the ferries? See how quick they would improve the service then.
Wightlink faresare so high …but they have cut back on staff.Ive been visiting my dad on the island for 40 years!You can’t run a goodbusiness with cutting back on staff
This is no longer acceptable and needs to be investigated, Wightlink like Redfunell are licensed to serve the public with essential travel, clearly not providing this. More people could miss connections, appointments or surgery. What if we need the extra fire or police support from Hampshire?. No one likes it but fix link planning would shake up ferries to get themselves sorted and cheaper etc. Especially at the moment with Red Funnel at moment.
They are obviously short staffed and need to recruit more essential staff
A sincere apology this time. Well, that’s all right then. Have Wightlink and Red Funnel considered going into the maritime transport business?
I can’t think of many other places where you need to factor in cancellations if you’re going to the mainland, always have a plan B, never rely on your booked sailing going ahead. It’s now virtually every week so it’s become the norm. And we all accept it.
Unfortunately Wight£ink was my plan B
(was booked with Red Funnel,.. but they’re too unreliable,.. so booked with Wight£link instead,.. now they’ve cancelled ….
f’ing useless..
That’s what happens when essential services are run for profit… (Thanks to the CONservatives)
mind you,.. even Joe Robertson has come to his senses and realised that for essential services like our ferries, CONservative policy (of making it so everything has to make profit for the rich) is not fit for purpose….
Probably the Toilet cleaner has the
sh*ts, hence the cancellations.
Same old, same old. Pithy excuse!
No excuse; Any local marine pilot would have stood in for the day.
When is wightlink and red funnel going to start running a decent service , overpriced and inefficient, build a bridge or tunnel and be done with it
Perhaps due to the extreme prices for Holiday Makers they just didn’t need so many crossings today
Why was he absent and was it the same guy?
The quickest, surest action theis new government can do to stop this sort of malarky is to improve passenger rights and compensation.
I think the rights should be modelled on EU Air passenger rights (Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, which was enacted into UK law and still in force despite BrExit), as the fare costs and impact to the traveller of ferry cancellation or delay is similar to a flight being delayed or cancelled. With the £ equivalent of the €600 Euro compensation in cases of severe delay and cancellation, and reticketing on the first available service (Red Funnel or Wightlight, traveller’s choice, with an allowance for costs of transfer to the corresponding port)
Compensations costs will improve services!
They should re-name the Company Titanic
They go down more times than the Titanic.
What we want is cheaper and reliable Ferries for us
Islanders.
It’s time to build a bridge or tunnel.