Repair work to the Floating Bridge is not expected to be completed until at least Saturday morning at the earliest, the Isle of Wight Council has announced.
As reported by Island Echo, the Cowes to East Cowes service was once again suspended on Saturday morning when yet another technical issue hit, this time with the hydraulic ram which operates the prow.
Floating Bridge No.6 went out of service in July for 10 days of maintenance, which soon turned into 14 weeks. Then, once the ‘Wight Elephant’ returned to operations on the River Medina, a hydraulic oil leak was discovered. Now, just 2 weeks after returning to service, a whole ram is being ripped out, inspected and repaired in a bid to get the chain ferry back up and running.
The latest inspections have revealed that one of the inner piston ends has sheared off and a fatigue crack is evident. As a result, all 4 corners of the vessel are now being checked meaning that the floating bridge won’t be back until the weekend.
Investigations have confirmed that this recent incident was not connected with the last set of works which were recently finished, meaning that the floating bridge is more problematic than first thought.
A foot passenger launch is in operation using chartered boats – an all too familiar sight for those travelling between East Cowes and Cowes.
Last month it was revealed that the Floating Bridge has cost the taxpayer a total of £7million to date, not including the most recent breakdowns.
Don’t worry, there’ll be another floaty on the Medina in a few hours, I’ve just had KFC
Don’t Tell them which Saturday PIKE.
Floaty is not fit for purpose and as such should be returned for a full refund and compensation.
for well over 25 years they have been talking about a medina crossing north of Newport. had they done that then Copins bridge would run smooth, St Marys would have run smooth and not had the improvements (NOT) carried out and we wouldn’t have had 25 years of floaty problems outages for service and repairs. Just think of all the fumes and pollutants that would have been saved from entering the atmosphere due to almost no stationary traffic.
Vote this incompetent council out next time. A disgrace of self interest first and council tax payers, and Island beauty and countryside last.
It is not only those there because someone put a cross against their name but it also the desk incumbents of County Hall, including the highest paid of them all, who must be got rid of NOW. The place stinks of corruption. Would a commercial organisation put up with this? Of course not. So why the hell are we, those who finance these no goods, have to? If we don’t pay our taxes we are subject to legal action. It should also be applicable the other way around. They, the council, are wasting our hard earned money – why don’t we take action against them? I feel sure some legal eagle is waiting in the wings for a nice little earner.
Public enquiry. NOW.
We would pay and it would be all covered up, as mates of mates would investigate mate.
Just vote these vile creatures out next time around. The ONLY thing which will affect them.
How in God’s name can it be a fatigue crack. It’s never in service long enough to be even slightly tired never mind fatigued.
Yet more money being wasted, sorry more of OUR money being wasted on this ‘not fit for purpose’ lump of floating metal. I’ve said before, and I’ll say again, why has so much money been thrown away on this when it could have been much more wisely spent on a permanent bridge across the Medina. Floating Bridge no 6 should never have been bought in the first place. A permanent bridge should have been the replacement for floating bridge 5. The St Mary’s ‘improvements’ are also a total waste of taxpayers money, this needn’t have even been considered had a permanent bridge been built across the Medina. Is there anyone in existence who actually wanted the St Mary’s scheme to go ahead (apart from the councillors and their chums)? Floating Bridge no 6 has proven to be a total waste of taxpayers money, spends more time being fixed than in service, the people responsible for this should be sacked! Will anyone from the council publicly defend the floaty fiasco, or indeed the St Mary’s ‘scheme’, which I truly believe nobody wants? It’s a joke, the whole lot of it!
I think it should be called Broky.