By Isle of Wight Observer
In an extraordinary move on Tuesday evening, Red Funnel moved to deny that they had called in administrators, or were going “bankrupt”.
The statement was issued on behalf of Fran Collins, the company’s CEO, who is currently on annual leave, after rumours surfaced on social media.
However, while the statement said the speculation on social media was “absolutely and categorically untrue”, and claimed the company was in a “strong position with an ambitious future”, it failed to address the issue raised by potential purchasers, Arcus Infrastructure Partners (AIP). AIP confirmed that the company was put on the market months ago, with a need for “immediate” and “near term” investment. The immediate need is believed to relate to a now overdue £40.7 million bank loan.
The statement claimed there had been “multiple incorrect reports” in the media and made reference to the “increased scrutiny” it faces as the provider of lifeline services, but other than the reference to administration and bankruptcy, it failed to provide details of any inaccurate reporting by any local media.
Red Funnel has been asked for corrections or clarifications before publication on information disclosed in recent articles in the IW Observer, but our requests have been met with silence. Further attempts to get the company to provide transparency about its current financial status were also ignored this week. The IW Observer yesterday emailed the company’s chairman, Stephen Ridgeway, and representatives of the shareholders, pointing out the lack of clarity over the obvious and serious problems with one of the Island’s providers of lifeline services.
However, there was progress made in parliament, as IW West MP, Richard Quigley, met Maritime Minister, Mike Kane, on Wednesday. Mr Quigley has been working with Louise Haigh, now Secretary of State for Transport, and members of her team, since well before the election to raise with senior Labour figures the issues caused by massive internal and external debts, increasing fares, declining services and unreliability of the cross-Solent ferries, and work towards possible solutions. A number of potential legislative interventions are believed to have been discussed. The meeting with Mr Kane, the Minister’s first with any of the new intake of MPs, is understood to have furthered those discussions.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Quigley said: “The good thing is that both the Minister and those at the Department for Transport are, for the first time, not only aware of the issues, but are on our side. They’re open to helping find a solution.
“I’m under no illusion this will be a quick fix, but there’s a noticeable difference in the positive attitude of this government to the previous one.”
The MP added that he is “quietly confident” that progress is being made.
