Condor passengers finding out yesterday that their vehicles would be going nowhere. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 0608951)
CONDOR passengers were left stranded yesterday as striking harbour workers forced the cancellation of most services.
Ro-ro ramp operators, crane drivers and marina staff staged the 24-hour action, which meant vehicles could not be loaded or unloaded, as part of the island-wide States public service workers’ action over pay.
Car passengers queued for the noon boat to Poole unaware they would not be able to travel and Condor staff had the task of working their way down the line of vehicles breaking the news.
One passenger, Ian Davidson from Scotland, said the ferry company had handled the situation appallingly. ‘It’s the worst service I have ever encountered,’ he said. ‘There is no one to tell us what is going on. You don’t just leave people high and dry like this. Condor should have managers down here speaking to people.’
Mr Davidson, who runs a public bus company in Scotland, said he had been forced to find accommodation for 14 people. ‘Condor should be sorting it out for us,’ he said. ‘It’s a shambles. If I treated my customers like this, I would have none left, but Condor has a monopoly on the route.’
However, most passengers supported the strike action.
Felix Kenyon, 62, was due to go to England for her son’s wedding and said that as long as she could get across today, she supported the workers. ‘Luckily, the wedding is on Thursday so I hope the action will not go on for too long.’
Another local man, who asked not to be named, said the States’ pay offer was nowhere near good enough.
‘I think they are right to strike,’ the 38-year-old said.
‘The offer was too low. But it’s a catch-22 situation – the States are saying they have not got the money, but 3% is laughing in the workers’ faces.’
Condor’s Yan Milner said yesterday’s disruption had been unavoidable.
‘We can berth the ship and we can put the gangways on, but we cannot get cars on or off. There is nothing we can do. We have rebooked people for the next available sailing.’
Workers allowed vehicles on the 7am service from Weymouth to disembark because the vessel had already put to sea when the strike was called.
It was then allowed to carry cars on to Jersey, although all day-trippers were warned they would not be able to get their vehicle back to Guernsey.
The 1.55pm service from Poole also docked in Guernsey, although no cars were discharged or loaded, before it continued to St Malo. The vessel also stopped in Guernsey on its way back to Poole from France. Foot passengers were allowed on both services.
‘Those sailings were coming through Guernsey anyway, so we wanted to give people the option to travel as foot passengers,’ Mr Milner said. ‘We said we would then send their cars on to them if they wished.’
The Commodore Clipper service, due to arrive in Guernsey at 4pm, was also cancelled but the overnight freight service on the Goodwill from Portsmouth arrived at 2am yesterday, before the action started, and today’s was due to arrive at 10am.
‘The Goodwill, which brings most of the food into the island, will go to Jersey first and get to Guernsey at 10am instead of the usual 2am,’ Mr Milner added.
Article posted on 22nd July, 2008 - 2.29pm
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