Wightlink have been forced to cancel yet more sailings on its Lymington-Yarmouth route tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday due to absence of a key crew member.
The 06:15 and 13:00 from Lymington and the 07:30 and 14:05 from Yarmouth have been cancelled on Friday, with the 05:30 from Lymington and the 06:20 from Yarmouth cancelled on Saturday (29th October).
The cross-Solent operator has once again blamed the absence of an essential crew member onboard as the reason for the cancellation.
Wightlink apologise for the inconvenience this action will cause but we have been unable to source short notice cover for the absent members of staff.
All booked customers have been notified and moved to alternate sailings.
With all the cancellations etc It’s time to build a bridge or Tunnel.
These Ferry Companies are disabling the Island.
It’s not going to happen any time soon…so stop winging…
1 2 buckle my shoe 3 4 knock on my door 5 6 let’s play with sticks 7 8 close my gate 9 10 we start again
Boring Boring who on earth is going to fund this in a recession for the sake
of a crappy island with only about 130000 people affected. Get real.
The call for a bridge gets louder and louder.
I never I would agree with you but your right . It is crippling the island. And things have got to change . I think its the only way forward if the island is going to have a good future.
I myself was never keen on a bridge, but with all what’s been going on over the past few years – I am for a Bridge.
If Ferries are not running, we are stuck on this Island
(It’s like taking our freedom away)
Either run Ferries on a regular basis, or time for a Bridge.
It can be done, in Florida they have a 7 mile bridge across water.
This doesn’t make any sense now unless it is due, as others have said, to the crossings being cancelled because of low numbers of passengers.
If the ferry was fully booked, let’s say during the IW Festival, would they cancel it? No, of course they wouldn’t.
If they lowered fares this would not be the case
More lies will be along soon…..
utter utter bs…yet again
these feeble excuses cant be allowed too keep on.
appawling sham of a service
all 3 sea transport are as bad as other
would not5 be much staffing problems if was a TUNNEL…
Wightlink are just interested in fleecing tourists, they don’t give a monkeys about providing a reliable ferry service to the Island for Island residents!
Once again, totally unacceptable. Get your act together Wightlink and run a service the Island deserves and not the shambles your attempting to call a service. Disgraceful!
They really just don’t give a toss about the passengers
Wightlink and Red Funnel have got to be the Worst ferry providers in the intire British Isles!
Issuing a statement that ends Sorry for the inconvenience is utter Contempt.
When my 11yr old does something wrong he says sorry, but I say that sorry means nothing if you then do it again!
Wightlink, sort yourself out,have back up essential staff to cover other essential When they have personal issues, Don’t leave it to your customers to take the burden!!!
Received an offer last week to book a Day Return trip to the mainland for £39
Certain bookings times were not available when booking.
When booking not using the offer of £39, just the trip from Fishbourne to Portsmouth was £47.50, when adding return from Portsmouth to Fishbourne that was another £30.00
Total £77.50
£38.50 more but all times were available
Wightlink pricing structure amazes me.
Same crossing, nothing different, just different times (nearly double the price)
NOT FAIR
Think about where Keith Greenwood used to work (Royal Mail) and look at the mess they are in – That says it all.
If the absence of a single member of staff is enough to cancel a ferry service then staffing levels are inadequate.
Unfortunately, until the government impose public service obligations on the links profit will always come before the interests of the islanders.
Unfortunately our current MP, like his predecessor, is big on words but woefully lacking in action.
A bad company , which is equally badly managed at all levels it appears, which was backed up by a senior Wightlink employee during the pandemic, when customers were complaining about the fast cat service, or lack of it,
he stated “ Travellers or Commuter’s could always use the car ferry that ran from Fishbourne “ just about summed it up really, what they think of the general public.
Yet again it will always be profits before people, but without the people there will be no Profit ?
We will never know the true story, because they don’t seem to believe in transparency or so it seems in my opinion !
Are managers not trained to fill all the positions in cases of emergency? If they are it’s time for them to get off their shiny backsides and start covering sickness etc to maintain the services/profit margins
What if it’s a specialist job such as Captain. Can’t expect any Tom dick or Harry to cover that.
Not good enough.
Sailings are already reduced Yarmouth-Lymington to every two hours as it is.
what i dont get is if a key staff member is off. why have they picked only odd random sailing times?if GENUINLY off …which is bs….the WHOLE DAY AND TIMES would be affected! people dont go sick odd times of the day lol
BRIDGE BRIDGE BRIDGE
Either put these bloody ferry companies into public ownership or get a tunnel built. Their counter argument to the petition calling to reinstate later sailings Is its not really profitable and you can always go and get the car ferry. The point their missing is that the fast cat and the hover are an essential service for many and there’s no way it should be allowed or tolerated to stop running at 8.20pm. If your car is parked at ryde pier head your not going to want to be getting off at fishbourne.
How many times do we have to listen to these moans? The people of the Island have the power to bring the ferry companies to their knees if they are prepared to protest. Peacefully block the roads outside the ferry terminals at key times, (festivals, Cowes week etc). This sort of action will get maximum publicity and scare the life out of the ferry firms when Southampton and Pompey clog up with backlogs of traffic.
If Islanders are not prepared to act, then shut up moaning and put up with it.
The one thing about Island residents is that they are good at moaning and bad at doing anything about it. Fact.