There has been anger on social media this week with Wightlink blasted for charging almost £500 for a return ferry ticket – but the cross-Solent operator says all is not as it seems and they’ve now reached out to the customer.
Ann Pearson took to Facebook earlier in the week to show a receipt for her trip, which came in at a staggering £243 each way – a total of £486.
Ann is set to leave Portsmouth on Thursday 19th June at 07:20 and return from Fishbourne just 5 days later on Monday 23rd June at 15:00.
Dozens of Islanders and festival-goers have reacted in outrage, describing the prices as ‘disgusting’, ‘daylight robbery’ and ‘utterly indefensible’.
But the truth of the matter has now emerged, with Wightlink confirming that the price of £486 reflects an amendment to an original booking and is not a fare that can be booked online.
A spokesperson for Wightlink has said:
“We understand the customer’s concern. We have been in contact with the customer and have found a lower-priced fare, which meets their needs.
“The journeys referenced are peak time, during Isle of Wight Festival; the two busiest days of the year for cross-Solent travel.
Article continues below this advertisement “For residents leaving the Island during the Festival, off peak car crossings are available through Multilink (from £31.35 per sailing), with single tickets from £68.75 each way.
“For travel during Festival, we always recommend booking as far in advance as possible to secure the best value. After Festival tickets were released on 25 September 2024, many music fans took advantage of Wightlink’s Festival Early Bird offer during October, where a return car journey was available for under £100.
“Anyone planning to travel to and from the Festival at this late stage can use Wightlink’s Best Fare Finder to understand the options available to them. Fixed-price foot passenger travel is available for £20.70 each way to Ryde Pier, connecting with the bus service to and from the Festival site”.
This fresh wave of frustration comes just days after protesters gathered in Cowes, chanting ‘robbing our Island’ outside a key meeting between ferry bosses and Transport Minister Mike Kane MP. The roundtable followed months of growing pressure over ferry affordability, reliability and transparency.
The Department for Transport has now agreed to review pricing and reliability across all Isle of Wight ferry routes.
Cheaper to fly to an exotic destination.
Wightlink are having a laugh.
Any thoughts from either Island MP
or the Transport Minister.
Lol
I bet those 3 are pleased they claim
their fares on their elaborate expenses
compliments of US tax payers.
So the truth of the matter is the person who booked the ticket and posted it on social media was the one who made a mistake and Wightlink have corrected it and booked for them a much cheaper fare.
Doesn’t make such a good click bait headline though…
There should be no circumstances, any time of the day, any day of the week, peak times or not where the fare should be anywhere near this level. How Wightlink even try and defend it is beyond me.
Just checked, £58 return to Ibiza.
For a car? please tell us the details.
Greedy shits, tell them to stuff it. Cheaper to go abroad. Bloody place the shortest and most expensive rip off in the world to get to.
Methinks Wightlink doth speak with forked tongue.
At least Dick Turpin used a mask!
That’s just unjustifiable. Pure profiteering 3, 21,14,20,19.
Wightlink are lying through their teeth. Their website lists a crossing at 1600 on 19th June, with a small car one way Portsmouth to Fishbourne as £243!
Why are they allowed to continually penalise people and businesses, ruining tourism and islanders travel experiences.
The service is pretty awful a lot of the time let’s face it especially on Red Funnel and rockets up during the summer period.
We should boycott the ferries and protest I say.
There is a lot of bad publicity about ferry costs and I agree that they can be a disincentive to potential visitors. But that needs to be balanced out with the options available to Island residents through fares such as Multipass. I am never quite sure why Islanders are quite so outraged all the time when it is easy enough to get a return trip for £70 and personally I have never had a problem booking the crossings I want. We will get much further with both government and the ferry companies if we don’t resort to hyperbole but rather use evidenced fact based arguments.
£70 for a return crossing of no more than 12 miles
in total distance is daylight robbery, no other word
for it.
Tourists are not going to buy multipass tickets, hence the ferry companies just about extorting money from them. It’s just profiteering!
Half a grand to get to the Isle of Shite, the low life dumping ground site?
I live on the mainland 150 miles away, have many family members living on the Island, today 13th Aug i just tried to book a rtn with RF to see them, best i could get was £396 rtn, no cheaper trying WL either, just as expensive, you can see why people are avoiding going with prices like that and tourism dropping off, every year we notice less holiday makers on the island, such a shame as its a cracking island, so sad. Hasn’t to add i wont be going 🙁