Posted knowing that other BRers are bikers and in case I'm not alone as a BRer booked to take my bike abroad with Speedferries.
A friend coming on the same motorcyling holiday to the South of France in June advised me yesterday that Speedferries are cancelling all reservations made by motorcyclists. This turned out to be true, and initially as "tour organiser" I pursued the line of getting Speedferries to swap our whole group to another cross channel operator. In the end though, travelling with P&O was so cheap (£45 each, total return fare) and the timings so close to our Speedferries original crossings that I took the refund offered and rebooked manually; It wasn't worth the risk of hanging a holiday for everyone on a matter of personal principle!
Speedferries have only been accepting bikes for a short period of time, and I don't like the way their way of keeping a lid on the news, informing riders on a rotation basis rather than en-masse to maximize rebooking options (however much this will deluge their call center), and updating website by stealth (quietly removing bikes as a carriage option rather than adding a banner to "read more" if you're a biker), but for info here's the reply I was given:
Please accept my deepest personal apologies for having to cancel your motorcycle booking with SpeedFerries. Unfortunately, we will have to stop carrying all kinds of motorcycles from 1 May 2007. I am really sorry to have to take this step, which I sincerely hope will be a temporary measure only. However, with the present concept of port turnaround time and loading/discharge and even more importantly the lack of safe lashing for the bikes onboard I have to take this decision. At the moment carrying motorcycles is loss making for SpeedFerries due to the above mentioned problems and due to a vast number of huge claims for damages. I ask for your understanding as the present concept is unacceptable for our motorcycle customers as well as for the company and I promise to revisit the options again as soon as possible.
Curt Stavis
Chief Executive Officer
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"loss making"
Offensive Blasphemy Removed
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"loss making" Offensive Blasphemy Removed
What's the problem? Speedferries are saying they cannot carry bikes without damaging them and so would rather not.
The ticket, according to the OP is £45, all that needs to get busted is a brake lever and they have not made any money on that ticket, never mind if some panels get ruined at a cost of a couple of hundred quid.
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Aim low, expect nothing & dont be disappointed
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The ticket, according to the OP is £45
Actually, I didn't give the Speedferries price I paid, only that for the P&O replacement.
Speedferries was £58, so admittedly the same ballpark.
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What's the problem?
That mangling of the English language, actually...
Unless you can explain to me how you 'make' a loss?
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