Ferry passengers frustrated at schedule changes

Condor announced schedule changes in April, when some passengers had already booked for the summer

Changes to the Condor Ferries summer schedules have left some travellers frustrated by the disruption.

The schedules were changed in April, affecting passengers with prior bookings and leading some to cancel travel plans.

The company has apologised to customers and said the changes were meant to bring "consistency and familiarity" to the schedule and that more than three quarters of its passengers "remain unaffected".

Regular summer visitor to Guernsey, Rachel Sennett said she had "no confidence that we are actually going to be there in July".

Rachel Sennett and her husband Richard have been using Condor to visit Guernsey since 2015

The Hampshire resident said: "Why is the schedule for this summer being changed in April? It should have been changed in the winter season ready for people booking for the summer.

"If it changes again and it impacts on the holiday then we will cancel and if Condor are still the ferry provider next year then we won't book at all."

Steve Austen, who lives in Ascot and was due to visit Guernsey with his three sons this summer for the first time, said the disruption had meant he had decided to cancel his trip.

He said: "I only booked on the 3pm sailing because they published that sailing. I feel they have a moral obligation to stick to it.

"When I decided I wasn’t going to accept this and cancel, they (Condor Ferries) charged me a £190 fee."

Mr Austen told the BBC that he also incurred a £640 cancelation fee from the hotel he was due to stay at because he decided not to travel to Guernsey.

"Until this happened, I had no real grasp of the fact that there is a monopoly ferry company who could effectively imprison me on the island based on a whim," he said.

Steve Austen cancelled his trip to Guernsey when the schedules changed

Jersey resident Phillip Le Claire has been left "frustrated by the lack of communication."

He uses the ferry company to travel to the UK for reunions with people he served in the Army with.

Mr Le Claire said: "I need to travel with musical instruments and going by plane means buying them a seat so it makes the cost prohibitive.

"The reason to use Condor is the convenience of being able to take the car with two or three saxophones in the boot. You can't do that by plane unless you pay for a seat.

"Condor really do have us over a barrel, it's like it or lump it and that's how it feels."

Condor Ferries said it had received just "one complaint for every 1,000 passengers we notify that their bookings are changing this summer".

Christophe Mathieu, the CEO of Condor, apologised to passengers affected by the changes and acknowledged there would be "understandable concern" at some of the changes.

"Given that schedule change causes disruption, regrettably some complaints are inevitable," he said.

"We are sorry for those who have been affected and in particular for any miscommunication that may have occurred and are working with passengers individually."

Condor said it planned to refund Mr Austen's £190 cancellation fee.