Passengers using Red Funnel’s vehicle ferry from Southampton may face some delays when boarding following an incident which saw the company’s check in booth destroyed by a heavy goods vehicle.
As first reported by Island Echo, 3 members of Red Funnel staff were treated for injuries after the check-in booth they were working in was destroyed by the rear end of an articulated lorry on Monday.
The booth, which ordinarily houses Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras and equipment that quickly identifies each vehicle, saw significant damage and was left in an almost unrecognisable state following the incident.
Due to the demolition of the booth and the equipment within, staff must now manually check-in customers in temporary booths, which may impact service schedules at busy times when an above average number of passengers arrive at the terminals.
A Red Funnel spokesperson said:
“Our services have returned to normal and all debris has been cleared from Terminal 1 in Southampton. We are currently checking in passengers manually due to the equipment damaged, which may cause a slight delay in boarding.
“We recommend customers keep an eye on our departure and arrival times here: https://www.redfunnel.co.uk/en/isle-of-wight-ferry/service-status/. We are continuing to fully support our 3 colleagues involved in Monday’s incident, who are all resting at home.”
So glad those 3 involved inside are OK cause god forbid that could of been alot worse! X
Time for us to pressure the MP into a public enquiry on the lack of service from the ferry operators. The only thing that makes them bearable are the fantastic staff.
Not the ferry company’s fault, a stupid lorry driver.
I wonder if they’re going to rebuild the ticket booth? Maybe needs to be extra strong reinforcements around it? I’m just glad no one inside was badly injured but must have really shaken them.
Shaken them – literally. Thank goodness no serious injuries but must have been shocking. Given recent poor service, this is a legit reason for delays etc. Could be pretty messy tho with all the forthcoming festival traffic…Good luck to all the hardworking staff in the next week.