By Isle of Wight Observer
UPDATE 2 (Feb 28 – 8.55pm) We have received the following statement from Ashleigh Mutimear-MacMillan – Business Manager, Hythe Ferry
UPDATE (Feb 28 – 3.55pm) After we sent an email to Fran Collins and the published email address for the Hythe Ferry the target for the fundraiser was changed to £1. According to the post now – funds raised will be paid over to the company on 23rd May at 9.17am. Later on Friday evening we received the email above.
Hythe Ferry passengers have been left stranded for months following the suspension of the service in August 2024. Now they are being asked to contribute to a crowdfunder to get the service running again. Some have kindly contacted us to alert the IW Observer to the situation.
The ferry operation stopped after it was discovered that £250,000 was needed to repair cracks in the landing pontoon. Reports – and common sense – suggest that full engineering surveys were conducted before Southampton and Hythe Ferry Company (S&HFC) purchased the Hythe Ferry service and the landing pontoon in November 2023. However, the issue seems to have caught the company by surprise.
Previously operated by Blue Funnel, the service, with no council subsidies available, was deemed “financially unviable” before S&HFC stepped in. Efforts to secure funding since the pontoon problems were found have so far been unsuccessful. This morning, S&HFC unexpectedly launched a crowdfunding campaign, appealing for public donations to save what they describe as a “critical service.”
The campaign organisers highlight that ferry services do not receive subsidies like bus services, though they fail to mention that such subsidies come with obligations to actually run the services. The appeal states that “as an independent operator, we do not have the reserved funds to cover this alone.”
One unnamed donor has already pledged £15,000, leaving £235,000 still to be raised. There is a mention that Red Funnel may provide “a level of funding,” though no details have been disclosed about how much this would be or why the cross-Solent operator would choose to bail out this “independent operator”.
However, a quick glance at S&HFC’s records at Companies House provides some insight. Its two directors, Fran Collins and Stephen Ridgway, are familiar names to Islanders – they are respectively Red Funnel’s CEO and Chairman. S&HFC is in fact a wholly owned subsidiary of the company.
Red Funnel of course has its own problems, with the company up for sale and facing financial challenges, including a widely reported £40.7 million deficit. Curiously, both Red Funnel and S&HFC have delayed filing their accounts until March 27, a practice sometimes referred to as the ‘one-day diddle’, which has raised questions about financial transparency.
Even more puzzling is the crowdfunding campaign’s modest initial target of just £1,000, with donations to be released to the company once this figure is reached. As one Hythe resident pointed out: “It’s not clear why such a small amount is being raised or what happens to donations if the full £250,000 isn’t reached”. Notably, there is no mention of refunds. As a service to those thinking of donating, we have asked Ms Collins for clarity on this and will share the answer when we receive it.
For now, Islanders keen to visit Hythe after stepping off the Red Jet service could choose to donate to the fundraiser. However, they might want to think twice and save their money, in case Red Funnel decides to turn to the public for support to save another “critical service.”
As Islanders know, given the company’s commitment to running cheap and reliable cross-Solent services, it’s not surprising that they may be short of a bob or two.
Mal Butler