No point in Condor offering a published timetable

Recently, our plans were shattered by a simple text message from Condor stating that ‘unfortunately your ferry has been cancelled’. This is just five weeks before our planned departure. When we phoned them to ask the reason and to rebook our sailing we were told it was due to ‘operational reasons’. There is no other fast ferry until four days later and we are unable to book accommodation to fit in with the new sailing dates. Understandably, we are extremely frustrated, upset and out of pocket, since we have paid in full for our accommodation and it is not refundable. I do not think anyone really books a trip with a few days flexibility as there are other commitments to consider – work, school, provision for animals while away etc., all of which have to be pre-booked and planned.

So that is the end of our holiday and we will not be able to meet up with our family. We cannot travel on the slow ferry as we are taking our dogs, one of whom is in poor health and cannot be taken on a 12 hour ferry journey, which is the only alternative available.

What is going on? I thought one of Guernsey’s main selling points was transport and connectivity. How can Condor be allowed to retain their licence on this basis of last minute cancellation without giving any reason other than ‘operational reasons’? This is not an isolated incident and not only have we, but also many others, experienced this extraordinary behaviour from the monopoly operator – who (with no competition for their services) behaves with apparent contempt towards their customers.

LORRAINE ALLEN

Editor’s footnote: Ian Le Moigne, media relations manager, Condor Ferries, responds:

Thank you for the opportunity to reply. We do sympathise with your reader in relation to their disrupted travel arrangements and fully appreciate the impact that difficult decisions (which any carrier is having to make) have on passengers. The circumstances we find ourselves in are extraordinary.

At this time of year, we would normally be running high speed services up to seven days per week, bringing thousands of visitors into the Bailiwick from the UK and France and transporting Islanders on holidays and those visiting friends and relatives.

Guernsey’s borders, however, remain effectively closed due to the imposed travel and quarantine restrictions. Every month we are hopeful we can restart services and each month resign ourselves to having to make further cancellations. As a consequence, the number of passengers wishing to sail at this time is a tiny fraction of what we would expect to see and the reduction in sailings referred to by your correspondent is a reflection of this.

The positive news from the CCA last month suggests borders will open and controls eased on 1 July, so we are planning a summer schedule that will provide a greater level of connectivity than is currently possible. Condor implemented severe cost reductions and redundancy measures last year to ensure it survived the pandemic. We are therefore now only able to run a proportion of our sailing schedule and it could be several years before we return to normal.

Your reader has raised a comment on the carriage of pets. We respect that their particular circumstance may be different, however we carry thousands of pets each year, safely and comfortably. Therefore, they are advised to contact customer.relations@condorferries.co.uk where we will try to do what we can to ensure their holiday can still take place.

We would wish to reassure your correspondent that the suggestion we are making timetable changes for no good reason is absolutely not the case. As a company we are simply trying to make the best out of what is an impossible situation.