Work is continuing to return the floating bridge to service as swiftly and safely as possible – although a new expected completion date has been revealed and it’s not good news.
The Isle of Wight Council says that the latest report from its specialist contactors has revealed that the extent of the damage to one of the vessels main engines is greater than originally anticipated and that repairs will take longer to complete.
The service is now not expected to resume until mid-November.
An Isle of Wight Council spokesperson said:
“We can only apologise for the ongoing disruption to the service caused by a major fault with one of the vessel’s main engines.”
The launch service for foot passengers and cyclists will continue to operate from 05:00 until 23:00 and 06:30 to 23:00 on Sundays.
do the council have some sort of financial gain from someone too keep this public money pit fiasco going or what? I’m disgusted how our money is still constantly thrown at it.for what?its off more than its on
what a joke
yes they will lose revenue or income on the floating disarster
Can we have a PUBLIC INQUIRY NOW PLEASE!!!!!
Well get on the government website and start a petition. Then advertise it on social media and here. Get it on local BBC. Then may happen.
i agree entirly
Build a bridge like Yar Swing Bridge in Yarmouth Harbour
Lets just stop paying our council tax and then see what the Council does.
i agree entirly ,but the council will say the Council tax is not for services, it is a property tax which is C–P, the council do not want a fixed link ,because it will not put money in their pockets ,and the council is not telling the truth ,just like the letter D,Stewart sent me to say he cannot coment because of an ongoing LEGAL MATTER?
If only – they will use our tax-payers’ money to prosecute us all!
Take it out to sea and sink it then build a bridge simple
Clearly this boat isn’t fit for purpose. Why the hesitancy to take legal action. Is someone responsible for this white elephant being protected, until pension is paid out.
Current council should get a grip now. Not just hit us with more poll tax, as well as the rip off precept.
Look don’t even bother to get this pile of junk fixed yet again !
Isn’t it about time that somebody drags it out into the middle of the Solent and blow the thing up, I feel so sorry for the staff on this piece of junk, they have to put up with all the abuse from customers and its not their fault, put the councillors on and let the public have a go at them, now who is going to be first, no fighting please!!!!!
Build a bridge and get over it
Hello new IOW council, when are you going to start giving the island new forms of infrastructure? Maybe ask the government to look at a pedestrian tunnel in that location, & a medina vehicle crossing a bit further up the river?
New council no different to the old. They always make promises to get elected, the the power and filthy lucre kick in.
This has to be a joke now. Seriously. Islanders are being taken for mugs. Islanders, make your own pontoon bridge. It’ll be easier to make and cheaper than this load of balls. The floating bridge fiasco is starting to overshadow the real problems. Why don’t you all do a sit in protest at it/IOW Council headquarters/outside their homes to get this sorted. MAKE them do something. They all had a nice trip over to see the old one a few months back and you know you all paid for it, yet islanders just accept it and do nothing proactive? Someone take the situation into their own hands and set an example.
I have an amazing idea !
I will get some pallets and cobble together a raft ….
I will need a few volunteers to pull it over and back again ….. Each side of course!!!.
Feel it would be better than this pile of junk that a certain sandwich had something to do with ????? Yes/No …
Failing that for foot passengers I could rent out waders ????
Any takers ??,,”‘????
How can the engine be damaged its never running
What is the point in rushing; it’s common knowledge that come next Spring, it will be out of action for another full month due to other issues. Just simply crazy !!!!!
The floating Bridge, the only thing that the council has, that needs 4 managers to run it, but none of them know how to run it
What is really going on here? If you think about it, it does not make any sense at all. You buy a new vehicle, it later transpires it is not fit for purpose, you send it back to the seller and get a refund. That’s how it works. Clearly there is something else going on here. This has been going on so long now that it is blatantly obvious there is more to the story than the council want us to know. If it doesn’t make any sense there has to be more to this saga playing out at OUR expense.
This is insanity, the council doing the same thing and expecting different results!. Chucking our hard earned money down the drain. If this was the private sector heads would roll. There must be consequences for these idiots cos I doubt they have the balls to own up to this debacle.
Wightlink did major repairs on four engines on Victoria of Wight in 3 weeks how come its taking up to 8 weeks to repair one engine
YET MORE OF OUR COUNCIL TAX WASTED.
I will try and post yet again, unless this one disappears like so many others! My point is quite simple… Scrap it, close it down, sell it for scrap and walk away. Keep the pedestrian boat and put a shuttle Bus service from each side. I know some will be upset but at least the regular users can make permanent plans for getting across.
Perhaps we should just market it for what it is – the most unreliable floating bridge in the world.
At least the floating failure would be a tourist attraction.
We could market it with clickbait like “IOW council built a floating bridge and this happened…” or “Ten reasons the floating bridge probably won’t be working again this week”.
Can’t we get the RAF to drop a bomb on it, then at least we can have the insurance money for a bridge that works
maybe we should withold paying part or all of next years Council tax until a FULL INVESTIGATION and that means by an independant team NOT BY ISLE OF WIGHT COUNCIL , to remove the floating disarster from any further service, this will eliminate more expence and labour cost on the rate payers .Maybe this should be put to MP Bob Sealy