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Wightlink And Red Funnel Customers Will Be Asked To Exit Vehicles

Customers using Wightlink’s Portsmouth-Fishbourne route and Red Funnel's East Cowes-Southampton services will be asked to leave their vehicles after embarkation and spend the journey in the passenger lounges or outside sundecks, from Monday (13).

Wightlink

On Wightlink, everyone over the age of 11 will have to wear face coverings during the journey as this is a legal requirement on public transport.

When Wightlink’s Lymington-Yarmouth route resumes on Friday July, 17 passengers will also be told to vacate their vehicles after embarkation and spend the crossing in the lounges.

Wightlink Chief Executive, Keith Greenfield, said:

"We made the decision to ask customers to vacate their vehicles because our spacious passenger lounges are the safest and most comfortable places for people to stay during their crossing.

“More people are now crossing the Solent with Wightlink following the Government’s relaxation of non-essential travel and need to use the lounge facilities onboard.

“Wightlink has operated ferries on the Portsmouth-Fishbourne route throughout the pandemic and staff have extensive experience in operating safely. There is plenty of room in our lounges for customers to find a place to sit while keeping a social distance from other people. Cafés will be open on most sailings and you’re allowed to take off your face covering to eat and drink.

“Ships are cleaned frequently and to high standards, hand sanitisers are available and there are facilities for customers to wash their hands in all internal passenger lounges.”

The agreement with Wightlink’s regulator, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, to allow people to stay in their cars was made on a temporary basis, and on account of low passenger numbers at the beginning of the pandemic. This has now changed.

As capacity on board Wightlink’s ships has been reduced to allow social distancing, foot passengers must book their tickets online in advance if they want to be sure of travelling on their chosen sailing.

Wightlink has been awarded the ‘We’re Good to Go’ mark by VisitBritain, showing the company complies with all Government and public health guidance and has carried out the necessary risk assessments.

 

Red Funnel

The transition back to standard vehicle sailings will come in two phases: The first, effective Monday (13) will see the 15:00 departure from Southampton and the 16:30 departure from East Cowes revert to standard crossings, no longer operating as ‘stay in vehicle’ sailings.

The 21:00 departure from Southampton and 22:30 departure from East Cowes will remain as ‘stay in vehicle’ sailings until July 31, with all crossings returning to the original format from August 1, in line with the latest government announcement on shielding guidance ending on July 31.

The latest change from Red Funnel coincides with the further relaxation of lockdown restrictions and the opening of industries, in addition to the COVID-19 incident level moving from a level 4 to level 3 and the continued reduction of the ‘R’ rate (infection rate). Red Funnel has also obtained the UK-wide industry standard “We’re Good to Go” mark from Visit England. The mark shows that Red Funnel is adhering to government and Public Health England guidelines and that it has robust COVID-19 risk assessments and clear processes to keep customers safe.

 Fran Collins, CEO of Red Funnel, said: 

“With the Government withdrawing its advice to shield from August 1, now is the right time for us to make changes to our ‘stay in vehicle’ crossings and move closer to resuming our usual operations. We hope that by giving customers as much notice as possible this will benefit our passengers and prepare them for the changes.

"We have put a lot of measures in place to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our passengers, including reducing our overall capacity to enable social distancing. We want to emphasise that passengers should feel safe to travel on our ferries and we have all of the provisions in place to welcome them back on board safely.”   

Red Funnel will continue to offer assistance to extremely vulnerable passengers to remain in their vehicle if they are travelling to or from an NHS appointment. For more information about this option and how to request it, customers should visit www.redfunnel.co.uk/SailSafe

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