By Carole Dennett
There’s been some Blue Sky thinking at Red Funnel – but not the sort their marketing team approve of.
The company’s official account on the social media platform BlueSky, which invites people to “stay, play, getaway with Red Funnel”, briefly entered into the field of company politics yesterday (Thursday) morning.
Instead of sunny getaway offers and posts showing ferries at the end of a rainbow (whoever thought that was a good idea?), followers were treated to a barrage of posts declaring “Ding Dong! The Chair has Gone!” accusing Stephen Ridgeway of presiding over “chaos, cancellations, and contempt for Islanders”.
It also demanded the immediate resignation of CEO, Fran Collins. To complete the theme, a digitally altered image of Ms Collins as a witch was uploaded – a broomstick not included – though the posts implied the author thought she should be riding one.
Chairman, Mr Ridgeway, resigned as a director on December 8, when Eric Kjellberg of Njord Partners was appointed. Insula Vecta, a Njord company is listed as having “significant control”. Other former directors have also gone, including Bembridge resident, Iain Delaney.
The posts didn’t ‘stay’ very long. Whoever posted on the account clearly enjoyed their ‘play’, but Red Funnel’s social media team did not appear to appreciate the fun. We will probably never know whether they ‘get away’ with their Blue Sky prank.
Shortly after we asked the company for a comment, the unauthorised content was deleted, and a post appeared apologising and saying they were “caused by the security of the account being compromised”. It was unclear whether the account was hacked by an outsider or the postings were from a disgruntled staff member – but whoever was responsible clearly holds strong views on how the company has been managed.
One follower responded to the apology, saying: “It was nice to hear an honest assessment of the situation at Red Funnel for once.”
The six posts went well beyond mild criticism. They accused Ms Collins of “mismanagement”, “narcissistic ineptitude”, and “a shocking disregard for those who depend on this vital lifeline”, and were accompanied by hashtags such as #CalamityCollins, #CaptainHopeless and #ClingOnCollins. One post said Islanders had endured “years of cancellations and contempt”, while another said the company had “lost the trust of the community it is supposed to serve”.
Coming shortly after the Christmas and New Year period, during which many passengers spent hours stuck on ferries or waiting for delayed sailings, the author didn’t need to look far for evidence of unhappiness.
It’s not only Red Funnel’s social media that has been “compromised” – their already poor reputation for reliability took a hammering over the festive break.
Perhaps Red Funnel’s next major investment won’t be in new ferries at all, but in setting up a new Apology Department to cover their ongoing service failures as well as social media problems.
