Following an incident last week when Red Funnel’s catamaran RedJet 5 hit a buoy and was taken out of service, the normal procedure have been to bring a spare vessel into service to replace it.
Unfortunately for Red Funnel – and their passengers – the spare vessel, RedJet 4, happened to be in for its annual refit and therefore unavailable.
One-craft service
Instead passengers have had to cope with a one-craft hourly shuttle on a first-come-first-served basis.
This has caused disruption and anger amongst many passengers who’ve been told the reduced service will be in place until 16th October.
Readers have been in touch with OnTheWight complaining that vessels have been seen leaving the dock with available seats, but passengers being left on the shoreside to wait another hour for the next crossing.
Online petition
One commuter, Tony Thompson, is so upset by the disruption to service and how it’s been handled by Red Funnel that he’s decided to launch an online petition to raise awareness and he hopes, spark some positive action.
He’s calling on Red Funnel to “Address practically and quickly the inconvenience and distress caused to Red Jet passengers by recent cuts in service.
His petition reads,
The recent cuts in service by Red Funnel brought about by a collision by one of the Red Jet vessels and its withdrawal from service have caused massive inconvenience, extra costs and real distress to thousands of passengers over the last few days.
The company has handled the whole business in a remarkably cackhanded fashion, making the situation much worse for passengers and looking like a shambolic monopoly who couldn’t give a damn, a PR disaster for them which they could begin to rectify by some real practical gestures to the people who have been putting up with this for the last few days.
He goes on to add
Red Funnel really need to get on the case and show passengers that they can justify the level of fares they have been charging for what is currently a very shambolic service by:
- reimbursement of part of season ticket and travel card holders’ costs;
- reimbursement of part of other passengers’ costs where practicable;
- a limited time cut in fares for all passengers when full service is restored as a good will gesture;
- always ensure that there is a guaranteed backup service available before withdrawing a vessel for refit;
- better planning for emergencies such as this, with all front line staff clear on what options are available to passengers with different needs, better signs visible to all passengers and an end to an excessive reliance on Twitter and Facebook;
- Provision of seating for passengers forced to wait in long queues
Follow the link to find out more and – if so inclined – add your name to the petition on Change.org
Image: David Jones under CC BY 2.0
