Motorists trying to return to the Island are expressing their anger tonight (Saturday) as the Portsmouth to Fishbourne ferry service is suspended until Sunday morning. Ferries from Portsmouth were cancelled as of 22:00 and 23:00 from Fishbourne. Wightlink announced their cancellations on X 25 minutes after the 22:00 sailing was due to depart the mainland. It reads:
“Sorry, due to a technical issue, there will be no sailings after 2200 from Ports and 2300 from Fish tonight, Sat 24 Feb until our scheduled service begins again at 0500hrs Sun 25 Feb.
The ferry operator has said they have put on an additional sailing for late-night travellers, albeit on foot.
“There will be an additional FastCat sailing from H-R at 0015 for any late night travellers.”
One Islander has expressed their frustration on social media tonight as they are now stuck on the mainland for 5-and-a-half hours until the first sailing of Sunday morning gets underway. The customer was informed when they arrived, that the ferries were cancelled for the rest of the day and that they should have received an email, which subsequently, was sent 30 minutes before they arrived at the terminal. Motorists are unable to switch to Red Funnel either, as there are now no sailings until 06:00 from Southampton and 07:30 from East Cowes. UPDATE @ 00:30 – Wightlink staff are handing out sandwiches and hot drinks to those waiting at their terminal who have a long few hours ahead of them waiting for the first ferry to start up for the day. UPDATE SUNDAY – A spokesperson for Wightlink has said:
“Unfortunately, due to a technical issue, Wightlink had to cancel four crossings on its ferry St Faith between Portsmouth and Fishbourne on Saturday night.“Extra sailings from Portsmouth Harbour were laid on for foot passengers and refreshments were provided for customers who decided to wait for the next car ferry sailing. All affected passengers were contacted and advised of their options, and how to claim the compensation to which they are entitled. Wightlink apologies for the delays and inconvenience caused to customers as a result of these cancelled sailings.“Wightlink has an excellent reliability record. Over the last three months, it has operated more than 99% of scheduled sailings.
Bloody dreadful and discusting people been away working or on trips ..this is bloody wrong the cost involved for accomadation or being tired and angry…you would be really pissed off.
We are hostages of Wightlnk and Red Funnel
Don’t live here then simple
A Bridge or Tunnel is our only hope, we are prisoners on our
own Island.
Mechanical faults hapoen and need to be fixed properly so you have to wait a few hours i remember when theconly ferries running to the island were foot ferries and a hovercraft from southsea beach slipway things happen out of the blue so suck it up buttercup
Seem to always have technical issues. Always something. That was the bygone age ,your reminiscing. Shouldn’t happen so often now with all our so called technology. Suck it up buttercup is offensive and ignorant. Somebody could be coming home after a major operation or for a family tragedy so put your brain in gear before you open your mouth
SHYTELINK … ⛴️ #1 ferry service provider
No WightLink and no RedFunnel – how would emergency services, especially fire, get to the Island if needed?
If it was against the law to Bull***t, these ferry operators would be in the Dock on a weekly basis!
Build a Bridge or aTunnel
Totally unacceptable, Wightlink should pay for accommodation for stranded
Motorists.
A sarnie and a hot drink? Why oh why can’t we improve our ferry services? Is it poor pay, incompetence, or is somebody making an enormous amount of money at the expense of crew and islanders? I would like to know! We all suffer because of this ineptitude.
I was there and there were no drinks or sandwiches handed out at all some
People were given a free drink voucher for when they got on the ferry but absolutely nothing whilst waiting there was only 1 crew member seen from 23.50 and 04.45 and that was to just let people off a ferry
Sandwiches and hot drinks?!! I’d want a hotel room…
I was there and there were no drinks or sandwiches handed out at all some
People were given a free drink voucher for when they got on the ferry but absolutely nothing whilst waiting there was only 1 crew member seen from 23.50 and 04.45 and that was to just let people off a ferry
Unbelievable,I would of expected a whole refund,don’t think a cup off tea would cut it for me,was reading a letter on here ,this just proves a point,red funnel for me in future ,this company is to unreliable now
Shameful.
Again holding the island to ransom.
It will be the ferry operators that destroy things like festivals and tourism here.
How about refunds and a hotel for the night. Shocking service as ever from our esteemed ferry services.
Not acceptable and no excuse, crew were already available and so should of had a backup ferry available – expect crew were sent home though and without pay to save wightlink money,so much for TV advertising costing millions, when stories like this keep coming up,stop spending on advertising and sort out reliability….
I was there and there were no drinks or sandwiches handed out at all some
People were given a free drink voucher for when they got on the ferry but absolutely nothing whilst waiting there was only 1 crew member seen from 23.50 and 04.45 and that was to just let people off a ferry
Also we was told that the crew are not aloud to work over their hours
This service is non existent. They shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it. Poor people stranded for hours on end.
And this is the best ferry company in the UK??
“best ferry company in the UK”
I think, in reality, what they won was probably the award for:
“Best Ferry operator (between Fishbourne & Portsmouth)”
lets face it, it’s the only way they would ever win an award for the sh1te service they provide
Isn’t it now a time for a serious campaign to get a fixed link to the mainland both ferry companies are takening the p… out of islanders they charge what they like and provide a very poor service
That’s just terrible. So they didn’t have any spare ferries, was every single one broken down or was it a staffing problem? That is really not good enough. Exactly what is a technical issue? They seem to use that excuse for everything.
Build a bridge an get rid of these disaster ferries once and for all
This is utterly appalling, Shitelink should not be allowed to continue to treat Islanders this way any longer. At the very least, those affected should have their ticket fees refunded. Its high time the Government stepped in and regulated this awful, expensive, unreliable service!
And this is why we need a tunnel! End all our misery from both unreliable and expensive cross Solent travel
When that happened a few weeks ago at red funnel my family were stuck over there but they didn’t get any refreshments and red funnel even locked the waiting room! Disgusting public service!
This is why we need to fix link. The ferries are unreliable and very expensive. This island is a joke in February. You have to pay over £100 for a return ticket it’s killing the island
Enough is enough.Build that bridge!
Always very civil and so very typical and considerate of Wightlink to hand out sandwiches and drinks despite what must have been very trying circumstances. Safety of travellers on their service is always their primary concern.
Try Traveling in Scotland on the Cal Mac ferries, Wightlink is top of Div one compared to up there, and how do you know it wasn’t a links span issue, Any thing mechanical can break, lets hear what the issue was before jumped to conclusions, I am old enough to remember when the service was run by British Rail with all the Delays and cancellations on a daily basis.
Time for shite link to go, boycott this joke of a ferry hit them where it hurts.
They don’t give Jack, about their customers never have.
It’s about money in their pockets, and sod the paying plebs.
Time for a tunnel, this has gone on long enough.
Unbelievable!!!! They have 3 ferries don’t they ? All faulty ??? All ‘essential’ crew off sick? Who’s going to bombard M Seely with complaints????
Martin wouldn’t waste time contacting BS Seely our MP does nothing .. any serious problem, then he goes off grid .
Utter utter disgrace! Iv no words.how much more of this ? Weve had enough
Nowhere else in the UK has this crap
Noone!! Something now has too be done but pop up has family in it so hes a waste of space as per
So they didn’t offer a full refund on the travel then, just hot drinks and sandwiches, absolutely ridiculous.
the amount they charge for crossing ,you’d think this wouldn’t happen. i bet they don’t give inconvenience money back to passengers or a refund and free crossing for inconvenience
What’s new?
This has been happening for decades!
How much more of this are we meant to take.
Where is our useless MP on this ??
Islanders are all at the mercy of ferry providers, yet still do not want an alternative!
What an absolute joke of a public service they provide. Customers pay an absolute premium ( even more for the summer months even though its the same distance lol ) for a disgrace of a service. The ferry company’s always want the premium price but lack the service.
They need at least one spare vessel. This is getting beyond a joke. Suggest they find a firm who can do a proper repair rather than a bodge job.
Something needs to be done about this ! It’s all the time now from both companies. It’s crippling the island and I would bet good money you couldn’t find a single person that will tell you it’s a quality service. Needs to be back up measures in place for all these “TECHNICAL ISSUES “
“Wightlink has an excellent reliability record. Over the last three months, it has operated more than 99% of scheduled sailings.”
I’m sure that makes the stranded travellers really happy
If it were an airline they would have to provide a hotel!
Utter joke, something needs to be with all these cancellations at the drop of a hat. Where is Seldom seen Bob?
Not fit for service. The rubberr dinghies into Folkstone/Dover run a more regular service.
dont to claim if you were affected https://www.wightlink.co.uk/contact-us/ferry-delayed-cancelled
Shocking service, just read about this on BBC News
Wightlink should have made arrangements for the persons
affected to stay in local hotels in Pompey.
The hotels are full with the refugees. They would be upset if they had to give up their board and lodgings for the UK indigenous.
Breach of implied contract surely ??
Just think how these poor unfortunates will be able to regale their grandchildren with this horrendous tale of woe. Imagine the horror of being confined to a warm vehicle and only having snacks and coffee on tap for a whole five hours, oh the hardship! It’s almost Bolshevik. There will be novels written, poetry and folk songs performed to commemorate the night the deserving middle classes were cruelly kept from their central heating and WiFi. Cruel, harsh world. Oh woe is the heart under duress
You again? What if you’d just come home after an operation, or a family event like a funeral. Not that you’d give a monkey’s.
“Wightlink has an excellent reliability record. Over the last three months, it has operated more than 99% of scheduled sailings.”
Does the management of Wightlink think we all live in the land of Cookoo?
I was one of those unfortunate car drivers who spent Saturday night at the Gunwharf terminal in the freezing cold, and very unhappy I was and still am. Just for the record, at no point was I offered sandwiches or a drink. A member of staff in the ticket booth did offer a drinks voucher, but that was useless because only vending machines were operating at that time. Five hours of my life were wasted courtesy of Wightlink. As an islander, this was my worst ever experience crossing the Solent. Definitely a new low for Wightlink. They can’t even be honest in their media response.
This is truly shocking, Pieford. I hope you are going to take it up with Wightlink and with the Island Echo?
no fixed link lol ha ha
For ‘Technical Issues’ leading to ferry cancellations read, more correctly, “Our accountants have told us that, in the event of low occupancy, it is more cost effective to cancel sailings”.
Staff still have to be paid of course but the savings in fuel costs help contribute to overall profitability.
I can never remember so many technical issues being used as excuses or is it due to lack of regular maintenance or are the boats just worn out? Wightlink cutting costs.
So to put the statement into context, where the spokesman said they had operated 99% of scheduled sailings in the last three months. They run 140 sailings per day. Multiply by 7 = 980/week, multiply by 4 = 3920 per month, multiply by 3 = 11,760 possible sailings.
1% of 11,760 = 117.6 sailings that didn’t happen!
Food for thought eh!
More than 99% = 100%. How can thar be with all their cancellations? You can’t run a business with that math…