Wht will it be after September ?

[Danglar]

I notice a certain resignation in this forum with regards to the termination of the route PO/LH once P&O pulls out in September.

For those who might not realise it yet this is a disaster. I too have hoped thus far that someone else would have stepped in P&O's shoes; but there have been no announcements. No feedback from the online petition to the french authorities, no news from Speedferry and , instead, there has been a steady but sure "pirateous" hike in fares by BF. Plus: no flights to Caen , none to Beauvais from London, no flights to Rouen (Boos) and not even the Euroline coach service London/Rouen is there any longer. Dieppe ? in the hands of a very unreliable operator like Transmanche in the winter it is like there were no service at all!

Owners of property/ies in the Depts 27/76 can we not come up with something to relieve the pain ?

Danglar

[Nick Trollope]

Brittany Ferries was started by Farmers wanting to expand their markets. An idea there perchance?....

Apart from the obvious rip-offs by BF (although IMHO, I haven't seen any significant hikes on our preferred St Malo route), I for one will not mourn the passing of P&O.

Rather selfish I accept, but  nowadays we see little need, or desire to travel back to the UK, so their demise is also of little concern to me.

It's all been said before though. I doubt if the likes of you, or I can, in practical terms, do anything about it; what ever happened to the Channel Pirates campaign?

 

[Linnorton]

At the moment I can book a 3 day, although you're not really allowed a full 3 days, with BF going on the 8 a.m. tomorrow morning. I wouldn't normally expect availability this late in August.  You would think that market forces would prevail on BF pricing and it has to a very limited extent this year.

However, French culture and mindset does seem to be very different to UK and I have no great hopes anything much will alter unless the Manche region starts subsidising the routes. There are hardly any wagons using Cherbourg.

We'll reluctantly start using Calais-Dover soon because the savings are too big to ignore. It's all a shame and I think it's damaging to the Manche economy but we are powerless to affect change.  If BF are content to operate at less than capacity it's their decision.  It will be interesting to see how many sailings and destinations they're planning to operate this winter.

[Aitch]

After checking in @ Portsmouth a few weeks ago at the start of our holidays, I discovered a problem with my booking. I tried to get the problem resolved at the PO desk in the main terminal building and in the course of the conversation we discussed what will happen after September. I was told that (1) Brittany Ferries are extremely interested in the route (PO/ LH). (2) Norfolk Lines were also very interested in it. (3) Another mediterranean firm, 'Grimaldi Ferries' had also expressed a strong interest. Apparently, they (all 3) are waiting to see what last minute deals can be done so that whoever takes over (if at all) can sift through the personnel and pick the best to transfer across for jobs in the new operators company. I had no reason to doubt what was being said as being genuine, but I still took it with a pinch of salt.

On our return and whilst waiting at Le havre, we were given leaflets as well as information via the electronic notice board of the impending closure. Surely this action was a bit late in the day as most of us have known about this withdrawal for some time?

Aitch

[Dick Smith]

October?

[Aitch]

Yes, you're right, should have been october!

Aitch