I've just had a phone call from a friend and he is not a happy bunny.

He only booked at the last minute in fact last week.

However his booking is for a 08.00 sailing on Sunday 2nd June from Larne arriving in Douglas at 10.45

Today he got a letter and now he has been changed to a sailing at 5.30 pm on Saturday 1st June arriving in Douglas at 01.00am

Thats a 7.5 hour crossing.............you could row faster I mean the Lady of Man was slow but this is crazy and why is the crossing so much slower than what the orginal booking was for???

He booked a Sunday sailing because he needs to be with his son at a motocross meeting on Saturday but now?????????????

It gets worse listen to the clip


http://www.manxradio.com/CMSmr/readNEwsI...px?id=6150

DON'T WORRY FOLKS LOOKS LIKE THERE ARE GONNA WORK A MIRACLE OR TWO.

PEOPLE WHO ARE BOOKED ON THE SAME FERRY ARE SAILING ON THE SAME BOAT SOME LEAVING FROM LIVERPOOL AND SOME FROM HEYSHAM.

BOTH SAILINGS ARE ON THE SAME DAY AND WILL LEAVE BOTH THE MAINLAND PORTS WITHIN AN HOUR OR SO OF EACH OTHER.

IF THEY CAN PULL THAT ONE OF THE MUST BE ABLE TO GET EVERYONE WALKING ON WATER.

Looks to me as if TT 2007 is in danger of imploding.
If heads dont roll at the Racket......

I was going to ask if it could get any worse, but that would be tempting fate.

Meanwhile the sound of silence from the Manx government is deafening.

Is it only us loyal mugs who cane see how bad things are?

MV

TT TECH Wrote:If we look back 20 or 30 years there were 30-40 thousand plus going over to the island, with bikes biger and heavier than today, the ships were old tubs like the Lady and we didnt have internet booking, mobile phones and compurters like today.

...

And those old tubs would sail in ANY weather and didnt need to stay in port when a bit of a breeze got up, and there were more of them. :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

How any cases are there now of long bookings being revised and bikes having to stay in Heysham while people continue on foot?


MV

Its obvious that the powers that be can't cope with the huge influx of bikers for this special year and have messed up "BIG Time".
They have had years to plan this.
If only they could build a bridge or tunnel to the island.

We must also remember that the days of when they used to cram bikes on the ferrys in every available space, is long gone, due to health and safety, which really has not helped matters.

Perhaps we need to get a standardised complaint form somewhere like the Grandstand (TT Supporters Club?) where anyone affected can drop in and fill one in, something along the lines of :- Name , address, scheduled sailings, actual sailings, additional cost incurred - travel/hotels etc. Those of us this end would need to sort this out and undertake to print off numbers of the form and get them to the requisite place at the Grandstand. We would also need to decide who they were all to be sent to. An MHK might be better than the Steam Packet. This would not be a claim for compensation (although with any luck it might start one off), but would at least give a (hopefully) huge volume of complaints which may lead to an investigation of Steam Packet practices.

In reality there is probably little that will or can be done to sort out the mess at this late stage. But a coordinated complaint delivered to the door of an MHK may prevent such a debacle in the future. I know that there is likely to be far less traffic for next TT and beyond compared to the Centenary, but complaints put up on forums are not likely to do that much good, except embarass those of us who live here by the poor welcome visitors are getting. But a few sackfuls of simple forms filled out by those aggrieved, MAY, just see something done.

I have no contacts at the Grandstand to suggest where forms could be made available but others will I'm sure. I will be happy to print off a few hundred if some of you others will come on board and we agree the wording of the form and who it is to be sent to. It seems at least 5,000 forms will be needed, so we would need a good number of people to commit to providing a certain number of forms.

An alternative and cheaper way is simply to have petitions distributed for people to sign, but that gives little indication of the inconvenience and cost many people will be put to.

If anyone agrees, then please put up some posts and we can try to organise it.

Good point, but I think its worse than that.
My guess is that somebody has taken a punt and that this chaos is as a result of a management PLAN.
If this proves to be true, then Steam Racket should be hung out to dry.
Those who have been going for years know that there have been years when many more travelled.
I dont swallow the "health and safety! angle.
But I DO give credence to the balance sheet theory.
In just about any other industry or business booking years in advance should be a gurantee!
They have had our money for crying out loud.
My other concern is the pathetic lack of any response today from the MANX government, MANX radio and anyone else who could and SHOULD care.
Its a total disgrace and I think that a lot of us will think very carefully, next year.

MV

Crossed postings there jasjas, sorry!
My comments were aimed at rocketman.

I will support your ideas for a petition style campaign.

Count me in and I suspect others on here.

In the meantime, please allow me and others to continue the embarresment!
Its all we have at the moment!!


MV

Thanks MV. I think the simplest way is a standard form, but that does mean loads being printed out, but I am happy to start the ball rolling with say 500 of them. A standard form will help stop lengthy diatribes on the subject - heartfelt they may be, but they just won't be read, whereas a standard form can be skimmed through by the recipient. As to whom? Maybe Mr Cretney who is in charge of trade? Maybe Mr Earnshaw in tourism? Maybe the Witch, Cargo, Hilary M amongst others can come up with some suggestions? And where could these forms be distributed?

It is just an embryonic idea, but if a few others put their weight behind it, then maybe.......

You know the very place that these should be handed out. The Steam Packet Arrivals hall, the Grandstand and also I think petrol stations. All the bikers need petrol maybe they could help out, as they take our extra cash.....

Just a PS MV. It might be worth posting this on the iomtt website where there s a lot of comment about the Steam Packet too. But I've no idea how to do that. If you do, please feel free.

The phone number for public relations somebody quoted began with 612. that is an Australian number so from over there you phone 001161 2...........
I have wondered why an Australian Company which seems to be making healthy profits chose to purchase a company in the IoM????????????? :

MV Wrote:My other concern is the pathetic lack of any response today from the MANX government, MANX radio and anyone else who could and SHOULD care.
MV

Half the Manx Govt are persuaded by the Manx finance sector that the TT has had it's day and which shipping company spends money advertising on Manx Radio? I would take earlier advice and see if anything can be done by the UK regulatory bodies.

On the Aussie Company buying here. Its called currency diversification.

But I think here is the real reason for all the problems and not problems with the port authorities:-

SUPERSEACAT TWO managed one of her longest crossings ever between Douglas and Liverpool on May 19, 2007 taking a grand total of 4 hours 47 minutes! SSC2's morning sailings had already been rescheduled due to adverse weather conditions. This delayed her morning departure from Douglas to 08:50. For several days she appears to have been running on reduced power and presumably three engines. However, by the time she arrived at the Bar she was down to two engines! A correspondent monitoring communications with Mersey Radio indicated that she was not allowed to make her approach until three engines were available. She eventually arrived at Liverpool at 13:37 with a crossing time of 4 hours and 47 minutes! With the TT 100 Festival due to commence in a few days one hopes the vet can cure the ailing cat otherwise chaos will ensue!



Ohhh a trueer word, that was posted on the 19th

Jan wrote, "I have wondered why an Australian Company which seems to be making healthy profits chose to purchase a company in the IoM????????????? "

Answer:
To take the money and avoid the embarrassment of facing angry customers.

There is a complaints e-mail address over here
complaints@macquarie.com

I intend phone their office today and see if I can get a contact in relation the the Steam Packet. This is simply NOT ON.

I will let you know if I can get a number for complaints.

Have fond the answer to the engine problem on the DARK SIDE



Problem sorted.

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