Cancellation frustration taken out on Condor staff

Saturday 02 November 2019

Condor's CEO has expressed his disappointment that passengers have been taking out their cancellation frustrations on staff, as the ferry provider announced more disruptions to sailing schedules.

Some passengers on Wednesday evening's sailings, which were delayed due to strong winds, noted other people being rude and disrespectful towards the ferry company's team.

"Any disruption caused to travel on and off the islands - whether by sea or air - is incredibly frustrating for passengers," Condor CEO Paul Luxon said. "At Condor, we feel the same if sailings are delayed or cancelled through bad weather.

"The vast majority of travellers recognise such circumstances are out of our control. However, it is regrettable that some passengers feel it necessary to direct their frustration towards our teams of dedicated, hard-working staff."

Pictured: Condor's CEO, Paul Luxon, said it was "regrettable" customers took their frustrations out on staff.

Gale-force winds have caused more changes to the scheduled services as well as cancellations this weekend, causing issues for some travellers trying to return after the schools' half-term break.

With predicted wind speeds of up to 50 knots and wave heights in excess of six metres, the ferry company cancelled all of yesterday's passenger services. 

All of today's fast ferry services have also been cancelled, along with the slow crossing from Portsmouth to the islands on the Clipper.

Sunday's service to Poole on the Liberation has been cancelled while the one to St. Malo is currently still under review. The Clipper is due to operate as normal.

As the bad weather will continue on early next week, the service to Poole is under review. All other services will operate as normal.

Pictured: Inclement weather has caused a lot of disruption to this weekend's schedule.

As a result of the weather disruptions across the weekend and in order to accommodate half term travel requirements, Condor will operate an additional service from Jersey to Guernsey, Poole and return on Tuesday 5 November.

"We share our passengers' disappointment at the obvious inconvenience and uncertainty caused by this sustained period of atrocious weather, particularly at the end of the half term holiday," Executive Director for Operations Elwyn Dop commented.

Additional staff in Condor's customer contact centre and port teams have been called in to notify and re-book travellers onto alternative sailings where space is available. All passengers are being offered free transfers or a full refund.

Travellers can check for sailing updates here.