Wightlink have announced that 8 sailings on their Fishbourne-Portsmouth car ferry service have been cancelled ‘due to the absence of an essential crew member’ on Sunday (24th September).
The services that have been affected are the 13:40, 15:40, 17:40 and 19:40 sailings from Fishbourne as well as the 12:40, 14:40, 16:40 and 18:40 sailings from Portsmouth.
A spokesperson for Wightlink has said:
“We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience this action may cause but we have been unable to source short notice cover for the absent member of staff and so have taken this action as a last resort.
“All booked customers have been notified and moved to alternate sailings.”
For timetable details, visit www.wightlink.co.uk/updates
All that profit and they can’t ( read won’t) invest in standby crews like they do for aircraft…
Please try to understand that Wightlink are a for-profit private enterprise. There is no profit in having very expensive senior mariners on standby “just in case”.
It is far more cost effective to cancel ferries.
People need wake up and realise that it doesn’t matter how much, and how loudly you complain or how many promises our lying, useless MP makes about sorting out the ferries, it will never happen while they are privately owned.
That boat sailed (pun intended) when the Tories privatised them.
They don’t have to invest in standby crews cause there’s no competition on that route that could endanger them and since they run solely for profit there’s no incentive for a private company to do it.
That’s why every sensible urbanist and economist highlights importance of public transport for social mobility run from general taxation as a service for the people rather than for profit.
Perhaps they would like to explain this at their public consultation.
What a shocking service
Colin. A good question to ask, but the chance of an honest reply ( net zero ) the CEO isn’t interested in a reliable fair priced service .. it’s about operating with the absolute minimum operating cost/staff ratio .. and absolute highest profit the company can screw out of us .do you remember the Govt bailed them out .. but the Govt cannot force them to improve .. so until the next asset stripping new owner steps in .. this problem will remain . What If we all stopped using Wightlink . ( yes the staff would suffer ) but would that make the CEO listen ?? Come on Wightlink users group !!
Must be the Captain. Disgusting so called service, absolutely pathetic!
Its the tea boy, same as the cat recently
Funny how crew members were so fit and well during the holiday season – don’t remember seeing this excuse once over the summer. I guess at least environmentalists will be happy at Wightlink’s apparent green credentials in merging half booked sailings together, as will shareholders who reap the extra profits.
Also amazing that they have enough spare slots on alternative ferries, coincidence? I think not.
There’s tiny small ferry firms around this country in remote places who run a regular more stable/ reliable and cheaper service then either red funnel or wightlink and I’m not talking about East / West Cowes chain ferry either .
Our ferry companies are a massive joke / laughable .
Any one interested in a Bridge connection
A bridge connection would obviously solve the problem of the ferry connections, people, and businesses inconvenienced is not acceptable and that is the fault of Wightlink, and on this occasion Wightlink only.
However, a Bridge/tunnel is never going to happen for logistical reasons, financial reasons, and not least because whether you like it or not the majority don’t want it. When these facts get accepted the better, the current set of links to and from the Island are NOT reliable and that is where the focus should be, to get an acceptable trustworthy set of providers for water transport to and from the Island, and THE SOONER THE BETTER.
Wouldn’t happen to a bridge or a tunnel.
Please, this government can’t even finish HS2 on the ground and you’re talking a bridge/tunnel over/under the Solent? No way that’s happening, current UK is incapable of big projects.
In addition Tories cut funding from central government to local authorities and this project would be hella expensive – you maaaaybe can get a proper funding if you convince Sunak to move here, lol.
To their credit, this government has still managed to build the new Silvertown tunnel under the Thames, due to open on time in 2025.
One of the interested consortium members involved, is a previous owner of Wightlink, Macquarie!!!
Wightlink worst ferry service provider 2023-2022-2021-2020-1999 and much more . Well done What an accolade !!
Does the rest of the crew get the day off
Most likely some auxiliary maintenance work. But it’s up to a private company how they manage their staff.
Another poor excuse,its typical Whitelink though,the desk surfers cant be bothered to run a service,so they blame the frontline staff again !!!!!!
End of the holiday season, low bookings.
its about time Wightlink and Red Funnel should face massive fines every time they cancel a ferry
make them pay customers four time their fare everytime they cancel a ferry by more the two hours . that should focus their minds on providing a reasonable reliable service
Totally agree. It happens when your plane or train is late or cancelled