Cowes Floating Bridge: Troubled ferry faces further delays

The £3.2m Cowes Floating Bridge replaced an older ferry in 2017

The Isle of Wight's troubled floating bridge will remain out of service for at least another three weeks.

The chain ferry has been out of action since a hydraulic fault was discovered during routine maintenance in July.

An Isle of Wight Council statement said work on a motor had caused "further unexpected delay" and services would resume on 17 October at the earliest.

East Cowes councillor Karl Love said the latest delay was "upsetting and distressing" for residents.

The £3.2m ferry which crosses the River Medina has faced a catalogue of problems since entering service in May 2017. It has ran aground and suffered technical issues, such as broken chains and electrical faults.

The ferry has been out of action since a hydraulic fault was discovered during planned maintenance in July

Mr Love called for a "complete replacement" or the return of the former vessel as a stopgap measure.

He said: "Why don't they make the decision and get it replaced? All the evidence is that it's not reliable. If it was fixable, they would have fixed it by now.

"It's an embarrassment for the island."

The council said: "We can continue to press our contractors to do all they can to get the vessel back in the water as quickly as possible whilst making sure the chances of these faults reoccurring are reduced to the absolute minimum."

It said the work involved removing and striping hydraulic rams, repairing hydraulic pumps and motors, and flushing the hydraulic system.

The authority had hoped the vessel would be operating again by the end of September, but said it now expected it be ready in time for the half-term break if the work "progressed to plan".

When the ferry is not working, a launch service is in place for foot passengers, while vehicles face a 11-mile (18km) detour via Newport where there are currently ongoing roadworks at the St Mary's roundabout.