Crew member's stairs fall halts Wightlink Lymington ferry sailings

A CREW member who reportedly fell down the stairs on board one of Wightlink’s ferries resulted in further disruption for commuters as crossings had to be cancelled.

In the latest mishap to hit the company in recent months, paramedics rushed to Lymington ferry terminal in response to reports of an accident involving an “essential” member of staff on Wight Light – one of its three craft that run between the town and Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight.

The alarm was raised around 6pm on Friday 25th January and, after being assessed and treated at the scene, the casualty was taken by ambulance to Southampton General Hospital.

He has since been discharged and was recovering at home.

A South Central Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “Paramedics responded to a call-out around 6pm last Friday reporting a man had fallen down approximately nine stairs on the passenger level and was unable to get up due to pain in his back and left arm.”

Amid reports the injured man was a chief engineer, the ferry’s 8.05pm crossing from Lymington was cancelled, along with 7pm and 9.10pm services from Yarmouth.

Wightlink announced the cancellations on Twitter, attributing them to “a medical emergency on board one of our ships”. It promised that all booked customers would be accommodated on the next available sailing.

A further tweet the following day announced three more cancellations that afternoon – the 4pm from Lymington and the 3.05pm and 5.05pm from Yarmouth.

Apologising for the changes to customers’ travel plans, the tweet said this was “due to sickness of an essential member of crew”.

A Wightlink spokesperson would not confirm the injured employee’s role but said: “A member of the crew of Wight Light had an accident on board the ferry on Friday evening.

“He received outpatient treatment in hospital and is now recovering at home.

“Two round trips were cancelled on Friday evening, customers were notified and moved to other sailings. Ships have been sailing with complete crews from Saturday.”

This incident came after one of the other three vessels, Wight Sky, was put out of action as a result of a new engine bursting into flames on Friday 14th December after just 390 hours of use.

Cancelled crossings were later exacerbated by an order imposed by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency that the remaining ferries could only operate two of its four engines – resulting in more cancellations when the wind speed was forecast higher than 25 knots.

As reported in the A&T, Wightlink announced it had utilised a 13-metre catamaran, the CRC Gladiator, to use as a contingency for wind-related cancellations. But this peak-time service, which had to be put into use on Friday 21st December, can only accommodate 12 foot passengers.

Many people have taken to social media in recent weeks to vent their frustrations at the service they have received from Wightlink.

In response to the latest incident, one tweeted: “Some people depend on this so-called service to get to college, work etc. Many businesses and commuters are suffering in the west Wight because of this!”