‘A major setback’ for Condor’s reputation
‘A MAJOR setback’ for Condor’s reputation is how the head of the Chamber of Commerce hospitality group has labelled this week’s problems with the Liberation, which will see the Poole route reduce in capacity by more than 2,000 passengers.
The fast ferry has been taken off the route due to mechanical problems and has had its place taken by the ro-pax vessel Commodore Clipper.
Passengers were offered the option of transferring to the Clipper or a refund, but at the time of writing Condor had not responded to requests for details of how many passengers have been affected.
There are cabins on the Clipper, but one passenger reported that these had all been booked for the trips to Poole, leaving the only option to sit in upright seats for a 10-hour overnight sailing.
The Clipper can carry up to 500 passengers, compared to the Liberation’s 880 (with the vessels carrying 350 and 245 cars respectively).
So over the six days in which the Clipper will be sailing, there will be 2,280 fewer passenger spaces.
But despite comments online that there was ‘no way off the island by boat for the next six days’, Condor has denied this.
‘Some legs are to capacity, whereas others are not,’ said a spokesman.
‘We are obviously disappointed with regards to what is happening this week with the Liberation being out of service,’ said head of the Chamber of Commerce hospitality group Alan Sillett.
‘It is bad for the passengers who have been affected, bad for tourism, and bad for PR for Condor.
‘It did seem that Condor had repaired some of the damage to their reputation in the past couple of years, but this is a major setback,’ he said.
‘We know that the States are going to look into contingency plans for the ferry service, and will be interested to know what solutions they come up with.’
