WIGHTLINK USER GROUP
WUG NEWS
Newsletter Sept 2024
To view a PDF version of this newsletter please click here - WUG Newsletter Sept 2024.pdf
Welcome to our new Wightlink User Group Newsletter. WUG IS an independent organisation campaigning for improved and affordable cross-Solent ferry travel for all. Since starting out as a small campaigning group at the start of 2023, we now have over 9000 followers for our Facebook and Website pages, with numbers growing all the time. Why have a newsletter? Keeping in touch and keeping people up to date with action and developments is important. We have a very active Facebook page and a number of discussion threads that people can follow and our website is regularly updated with news. The aim of the newsletter is to draw attention to the work of all the amazing campaigners who are actively growing this amazing campaign.
You can find us on FACEBOOK – Wightlink User Group or on our WEBSITE www.wug.org.uk
WHAT ARE WUG FIGHTING FOR? “Anger at “abysmal” and “extortionate” Isle of Wight ferries in UK. (Paul Bond - 23 Aug 2024)
Looking for a great summary of why and when WUG came into being? Look no further than the article written by Paul Bond and published on the World Socialist Web Site – WSWS.org. The challenge for Islanders is neatly summed up in the first two paragraphs –
“Nearly 13,000 people have signed a petition demanding urgent action to improve the reliability and affordability of the ferry services between the Isle of Wight and the English mainland. Residents report considering leaving because of rising transport costs that restrict access to medical care and personal visits.
The petition accuses the ferry companies of using passengers as “cash cows.” Travel on and off the island, the organiser Simon Jackson writes, “is absolutely extortionate and simply cannot be afforded by many people now.”
THANKS TO THE WUGGERS & WWWUGGERS (those in West Wight) The Wightlink User Group grew out of the frustrations of Ryde Resident Bronwyn Hamilton Brown, following the failure of Wightlink to re-instate the sailings that had been cut during Covid. Having found herself stranded one night in Fishbourne, after finding that she had to take the car ferry and not the Fast Cat back from Portsmouth, Bron began asking around to see if anyone else shared her concerns. They did! That was back at the start of 2023. Shout outs on social media heralded the start of a small local campaign which has grown now into an island wide campaign which is gathering support at an
amazing rate. With a Facebook presence of more than 8700 plus followers of the WUG website and the petition for action of 14,500 + signatures – it’s clear that Islanders (and many people from the mainland) are of a view that something must be done to ensure that we have fairer ferries for all. The ferries are, after all, our road.
Over the past 18 months Bronwyn has brought together a dedicated team of dynamic volunteers from across the Island – all busy now taking the fight to Wightlink - demanding fairer fares and a better service. The group has an established constitution, a WUG Committee and a number of sub teams and monitoring groups.
TAKING ACTION – Summer Demonstrations on all routes.
Residents, fed up with ferry services, which are proving now to be really unreliable and unaffordable for many, took to the quaysides
over the summer with demonstrations in Ryde and Yarmouth.
The demos were a chance to spread the word and were well attended with the aims clearly appreciated by drivers passing by, with plenty of waves and thumbs up and horn honks!! Next stop – Westminster! Taking the fight to the top is very much on WUG’s agenda.
DELAYS AND CANCELLATIONS A key aspect in any campaign is the gathering of data and evidence. If you take Wightlink’s published reliability figures at face value you’d wonder what the problem is, but WUG have been monitoring delays and cancellations over recent months, via a reporting thread on Facebook, with members reporting delays and cancellations as they happen. Apart from being useful for other travellers – WUG is now able to compare the many cancellations and delays experienced by users in real time, with Wightlink’s reported great record of reliability. Over time WUG will be in a position to call out Wightlink’s sneaky work around whereby they simply publish a revised timetable each time they have a ‘missing essential crew member’ or a boat breaks down (which has been happening with alarming frequency over the summer), rather than record a cancellation.
BEHIND THE SCENES ACTIVITIES – THE WUG REPORTS So concerned are they about the impact of the ferries on Island life, that WUG members have been working hard to prepare and present formal reports which relate to a number of key areas of concern for Islanders, residents and visitors alike. You can find the WUG reports on the WUG website. These include:
The Welsford Report - Monopoly Rules : Private Equity Wins. Everyone else go straight to jail & don’t collect £200 Chris Welsford (Dec 2023)
The Wightlink User Group Medical Report and Recommendations For An Improved Wightlink Service (Sept 2023)
Wightlink Users Group: lived experiences of ferry services - Final Report (Jul 2023)
THE NATIONAL PRESS It’s taking time but WUG are making progress. Private Eye were one of the quickest to pick up on the ‘Ferry Issue’, by highlighting the scandalous impact on our ferry ‘services’ of being owned by private equity companies. A report in Private Eye underscored the tension between the profit motives of private equity investments and the welfare of communities dependent on the services these investments control.
More recently, you may have seen articles in the Daily Mail, the Telegraph, the Express, the Mirror and the Independent and maybe caught features on ITV Meridian news, BBC South or on Vectis Radio, Radio Solent and Greatest Hits Radio. The campaign has also been picked up by a Guardian reporter who is writing a book relating to the nature of the company’s structure. Congratulations to all those who are helping to make our voices heard.
THE ROLE OF POLITICS “Wightlink was originally Sealink, the ferry service of nationalised British Rail, sold off in 1984 for £66 million as part of the Thatcher government’s privatisation drive. A £100 million management buy-in of Wightlink in 1995 was followed by a secondary management buy-out in 2001, worth £180 million” (Paul Bond 23 Aug 2024).
And so the story has continued with Wightlink (and also Red Funnel) becoming the playthings of private equity firms (much like the water companies). As things stand, the chance of anything really changing, so that Islanders might feel that they can live their lives like their friends and families on the mainland, is unlikely. There has long been a widely held view that without government intervention, things will only get worse.
At the general election, the Island voted for the first time as 2 constituencies and returned Labour’s Richard Quigley for West Wight and Conservative Joe Robertson for East Wight. Thankfully they have already demonstrated their willingness to work together for the benefit of the Island, by spending their first few weeks in Westminster, raising the issue with representatives of the new Labour government.
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON & WHAT’S COMING UP? Just prior to the August Bank Holiday – some of the team had a productive and encouraging meeting with MP Joe Robertson – it was a chance to get into some of the detail of Wightlink’s activities and relationships, to feed into a political response.
Elsewhere – WUG are pursuing a new CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) investigation into cross Solent Ferries and also looking to make WUG into a Community Interest Company (CIC).
Also - look out for the next WUG Report into the impact of ferries on emergency services and … if WUG can get some funds in place – there is also the will to look at legal challenges, to help in the fight for fairer fares and better services.
Can you help? We are fighting hard for frequent, reliable and affordable ferry crossings for all but it does cost money and we do need a fighting fund to extend our activities. If you feel able to contribute, you can make a one off donation and/or contribute as often as you wish – even set up a standing order. Look out for collection buckets at events or pay online via Wightlink User Group Lloyds Business Current Account No: 83851868 Sort Code: 309950 If all our supporters donate as little as £1 a month it will make a huge difference to our campaign.
