As tens of thousands of festival revellers head home after the Isle of Wight Festival, Red Funnel has confirmed delays of 40 minutes on its vehicle ferry service.
A lack of available crew members means that the 08:00 Southampton to East Cowes ferry this morning (Monday) will be delayed by 40 minutes.
This is likely to have an impact on other sailings throughout the day, affecting those heading to and from the Isle of Wight.
It comes following Friday’s 90 minute delays as a result of engine troubles for Red Eagle. This caused issues for those trying to return home for the weekend, get away from the Island and for those heading to the Festival.
Red Funnel apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Strange …..
Engine problems on Friday!!!!
( sounds plausible)
Short staffed today !!!!
Are the staff deliberately going off sick ??????….
Feels like they are trying to disrupt ferries on a very busy day , almost saying this will get worse if we strike over our enormous pay demand!!!!!!!.
That’s my opinion…….
Whilst I nearly always agree in the main with your views may I point out that on their website they state “critical crew availability” which could mean a captain, mate, engineer or any other person who by law has to be on board for them to be able to operate has gone off sick. If that is the case then I doubt that they can just pick up the phone and call anyone in to replace them. You may of course be spot on but I doubt we will ever know for sure.
So nothing to do with staff attending the concert last night and throwing a sicky today then, no of course not.
Must be all the staff off sick marking me down lol
You need to change your name to miss reactionary head in the sand nimby hang ‘em high fascist .
This excuse is used ever week. This company should have an emergency plan for busy periods.
You’ve got to admit it’s interesting that there were plenty of staff to run extra services to get the punters captive on the Island, but suddenly a shortage (ie fewer services = less cost = more profit) to get them home again.
Why are people under the illusion that the purpose of private companies like Red Funnel is to provide them a service?
It isn’t. The primary purpose of any company is to make money for it’s shareholders and Red Funnel are no different.
This is not going to change, ever, while transport to the mainland is provided by a duopoly comprised of two profit-driven companies.
It doesn’t matter how much people whine, complain and stamp their little feet, this isn’t going to change without legislation and legislation to restrict the profit of private companies is never going to happen under this Government.
Zog, companies need to make a profit, how do you think they can afford new ferries and facilities (one new RoRo freight ferry and a high speed ferry for RF in the last two years, and four new ferries in the last 10 years for Wightlink? Pull pound coins off a money tree?
Nimby ????
Head in sand fascist …..
Explain …..
But I do agree they should have a back up plan !!!!!
From miss Sensible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why are the staff not trained to multi task? Perhaps they are all men and can only do one thing at a time.
Yes sure, let’s make a cook a chief engineer, a deck hand a cook?
What a way to treat visitors who paid over the odds to come and enjoy our island. It just gives a poor impression and simply isn’t fair to those who paid for such a poor standard of service.
It’s not hard to understand. The purpose of a private business is to make money for it’s shareholders. The whole idea of the Thatcherite free market is that competition will keep fares low and improve services.
It hasn’t worked on the railways.
It hasn’t worked on energy providers.
It hasn’t worked on telecoms.
Why the hell would anyone expect it to work in an effective duopoly where the only competition is just as bad and neither company has any incentive to rock the boat (pun intended) by undercutting the other and starting a price way that will hit both of their profits?
They’re all still off, training to become doctors and nurses for our new health centres.
Did you ever hear of engine trouble or staff sickness before Covid…No we did not.
We need a tunnel or a bridge, the Ferrys are no longer fit for purpose.
They are too expensive, unreliable and dirty, we recently tarveled with Red Funnel and it was very dirty on board.
They are no longer a suitable transport option.
We need a new Service cheap like the Gosport crossing. The prices asked for to cross that little cross the water is taking the micky out of every islander
A so called service run by a poor management system with very little or no plan in place should SH/**t hit the fan , never fail to let the side down does red funnel
Bring in the NAVY and get the government to use the ferries for training, The problem is staff get paid if they work or not, so pay them a bonus they work a full week with no non roster days off this must be cheaper than lost sales I wonder if the 15% discount for Island resident travel is realy a way of saying sorry But will it go up in months to come .If we are still operating !!!!!. yes a bridge would be nice, however the road structure and bases for breakdown & rescue services is going to be a hard to plan project