A month or so before it was taken out of service, Isle of Wight council invited tenders for the former floating bridge, FB5.
No details of how much they hoped to get for the sale of the bridge were revealed at the time, but it was moved off the Island and moored in Gosport looking very sorry for itself for many months after it came out of service.
Up for sale for £125,000
In September last year (2017), the CP reported that FB5 had been sold by the council and was subsequently being advertised for sale at the grand price of £125,000.
So many have been wondering how much the council got for it.
£100,000? £80,000? Or maybe even just £50,000?
Takes an FOI request to get answers
Last year OnTheWight asked the council how much the bridge had been sold for but was given a reply that didn’t answer the question.
However, thanks to a Freedom of Information request by East Cowes resident, Cameron Palin, OnTheWight can now reveal how much the council received for the sale of FB5.
A whopping £7,670 plus VAT at £1,534 = £9,204
Cameron had also asked:
“Given Floating Bridge 6 cost over £3.5 million to build and other costs which have occurred such as the slip way, shelter, staff, maintenance etc, was this money used towards any of the this?”
The reply from the council was, “No”.
Still for sale
OnTheWight got in touch with the broker on Friday, who told us that, as far as they knew, the bridge was still for sale.
If you fancy buying it, they are open to offers around £125,000.
Here she is taking passengers on her last day of crossing in January 2017 – video courtesy of Dave Russell from Wight Media Service.
Image: © Apollo Duck
