MP SLAMS RED FUNNEL AS COMPANY ‘GIVES UP ON THE ISLAND’

Isle of Wight MP Bob Seely has publicly blasted Red Funnel, stating that CEO Fran Collins should “either run a bloody service or get somebody else to do so”. Mr Seely took to Twitter last night (Saturday) in response to angry customers raising concerns about the service – or lack of. He agreed that Red Funnel appeared to have ‘given up’ on the Island this week, stating “it’s simply not good enough”. The damning statement came after thousands of customers were left disgruntled by yet more technical issues, with just 1 out of 7 boats in Red Funnel’s fleet operational. Red Eagle was pulled from service at 16:30 when a diesel leak was discovered, which resulted in serious knock-on delays for the East Cowes-Southampton vehicle ferry route. A delayed 18:00 sailing departed Southampton with a staggering 850 people on board, which meant there was standing room only. Earlier in the day, a bow door fault on Red Eagle saw customers trapped on board for an hour, which led to the 06:00 sailing from East Cowes leaving 45 minutes late. The ship’s oven and coffee machines failed too. Matters have been made worse by the suspension of the hi-speed Red Jet service until Monday, when a slower replacement vessel will take over the route. All 3 Red Jets are broken. The whole situation is embarrassing for the cross-Solent operator especially as Red Eagle only returned from a refit in Falmouth 3 days ago. Red Funnel has now resumed a normal timetable on its vehicle ferry service as Red Eagle has been repaired overnight, but Islanders are left wondering when – not if – it will next break down. It appears Red Falcon and the freight-only Red Kestrel are still moored up and out of service, alongside the 3 broken Red Jets. It means out of 7 vessels in the fleet, only 2 are available this morning. Earlier this week the cross-Solent operator confirmed it was looking to replace its aging Raptor-class ferries, which are now 30 years old. However, that is likely to be several years away and in the meantime the technical breakdowns continue. Rumours are growing that Red Funnel is about to be sold, with 8 directors leaving last month.