No Sark Trident

TRIDENT has been refused a licence to operate a passenger service between Guernsey and Sark. The family-run business wanted to compete with Isle of Sark Shipping, which is owned by Chief Pleas, but after a review of the application by Dr Jonathan Spencer, Lt-Governor Sir Fabian Malbon made the decision to turn it down.

Trident general manager Peter Wilcox said he had hoped for more support because Trident was a small local business trying to expand.

'I'm extremely disappointed, but fully accept the way the decision was reached because I thought the review was done in a very thorough and professional manner,' he said.

'We really felt that we would not necessarily get the full licence, but we thought there would be some opportunity for the future for us.

'It would have been a dream to get an all-year round licence and it just seems a shame because we are a local company and you would have thought we would have got more support from our own Lt-Governor.'

Isle of Sark Shipping opposed the bid on the grounds that increased competition would destroy the existing service.

In his report, Dr Spencer recommended to Sir Fabian that the application be rejected on two separate points.

The first was because the people of Sark did not want it.

'The overwhelming weight of expressed Sark opinion, including that of the relevant representative bodies, favoured the retention of broadly the present arrangements, with Sark Chief Pleas ultimately both owning and regulating a single main service provider,' he said.

The second reason was because the negatives that Sark would suffer far outweighed the positives that having another service would provide.

'Award of a licence to Trident on the all-year/new vessel basis put forward would lead to limited improvements to the quality of the service provided, coupled with a reduction in price - but to a level which would almost certainly not be sustained in the medium to longer term,' said Dr Spencer.

'In my judgement, the risks to the continuity and reliability of the service in all weathers and at all seasons arising from these uncertainties and from the financial costs to Chief Pleas/the Sark community more than outweigh the benefits that could be expected to accrue from the award of a licence of the type sought by Trident.'

Mr Wilcox said it would be the people of Guernsey who would miss out.

'We were going to provide very competitive fares, £16 for adults,' he said.

'It would have been a very appealing service. There would have been a brand new vessel that could have got people to Sark in 30 minutes. We were looking to give an awful lot and were not looking for any sort of subsidy.

'We were putting our head on the chopping block because we are a family-run company that was just looking to expand.'

Mr Wilcox said the company would now have to focus on attracting more people to Herm.

'This has put us in the position of not really knowing where to go from here in terms of expansion,' he said. 'In business, you do not want to stand still.'

A statement released by the directors of Isle of Sark Shipping said the decision to reject the application was the best possible news for the company and the people of Sark.