Wightlink Isle of Wight ferry rule meant I missed my holiday flight

By Darren Kershaw, of Totland

image – Isle of Wight County Press

I am a very unhappy Totland resident who has lived on the Island all my 62 years and used Wightlink many times.

My partner and myself booked a break to Poland for Christmas. We were booked on the 11.05am Yarmouth ferry to get us to Bournemouth airport for 1.45pm departure.

On arriving at Yarmouth at 10.50am we were told we were too late to get the 11.05am ferry although we were booked on it.

We were told you must be at the terminal 30 minutes before the sailing.

In all my time on this earth I have never heard this before, so it concludes I am not allowed to sail thus missing my flight to Poland, costing me nearly £1,000.

This so-called Island service overbooked on the day in question and so I was unable to board.

I have contacted Wightlink and all they could say was you must be there 30 minutes before sailing — we don’t care about your holiday or your situation as long as we have filled the ferry.

I have never had any such problems with Red Funnel.

Wightlink in Yarmouth goes from bad to worse and the staff are very rude.

People beware — you have to be there early when it suits Wightlink through overbooking.