Wightlink and Hovertravel services from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight hit by bad weather and malfunctions - with several cancelled
Passengers travelling to and from Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight have suffered a double blow today - with possible knock-on effects for Victorious festival-goers
Hovertravel and Wightlink services to and from Portsmouth are facing severe disruption today.
Mechanical issues mean that Wightlink catamaran services from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight have been disrupted. Wightlink says that its FastCat has been suspended until 12.15pm on Sunday.
This means that the 9.45pm and 10.45pm sailings from Portsmouth to Ryde tonight have been cancelled - which could pose problems for people returning from Victorious in Southsea.
Wightlink says all Wightlink tickets are valid on the Portsmouth to Fishbourne car ferry service instead, but says it has not managed to set up transport between Fishbourne and Ryde on the island.
A statement from Wightlink says: “Sorry, due to an ongoing mechanical issue, our Portsmouth Harbour – Ryde Pier Head FastCat Service has been suspended for the rest of the evening, today, Saturday, August 29 and up until 12.15pm Sunday, August 30.
“This action is necessary to allow our teams time to work on repairing the issue and safely return to service as soon as possible. Unfortunately due to the short notice of this disruption we have not been able to secure transport between Fishbourne and Ryde. Again, we apologise sincerely for any changes to your travel plans.”
And it’s not the only problem on cross-Solent transport today. Several hovercraft flights between Southsea and the Isle of Wight were cancelled today because of a technical issue and bad weather. Hovertravel said its Island Flyer suffered a door failure at Southsea at 12.30pm and passengers were "transferred to an alternative transport option".
There have been cancellations and delays between Ryde and Southsea throughout the afternoon and evening.
Hovertravel said earlier that tickets for its cancelled services would be accepted on Wightlink Fast Cat services - before the Fast Cat problems arose.
For timetable information please visit www.wightlink.co.uk/updates.