The Cowes Floating Bridge will be suspended shortly due to yet more failures.
The Isle of Wight councillor for East Cowes, Cllr Karl Love, has been informed that once crew for the Jenny Lee foot passenger ferry are in place, the Bridge will be taken out of service.
The cause of the suspension is “a hydraulic oil leak occurring from the south west ram, which left unattended will ultimately dispose of hydraulic oil into the river”.
The Bridge will be suspended whilst this is examined and the cause of the leak detected.
More news once we have it.
Background
The Bridge was taken out of service on Saturday 7th November, returning on Monday 16th following failure of a component of the hydraulic ram.
It was also taken out of service Saturday 31st October due to a “blown weld on the north west prow hydraulics causing the leak”.
This following the Bridge being out of service for 13 weeks over the summer, losing the council over £100,000 in just one month.
The previous Floating Bridge ran at a profit, putting money into the council’s coffers, whilst Floating Bridge 6 has been a near-continuous drain on finances.
