Minister: "Condor has a lot of work to do"

Saturday 16 July 2016

The scale of the job Condor needs to do to rebuild its reputation has been spelt out by the Minister responsible for the Island's ferry services.

Tourism Minister, Senator Lyndon Farnham, told a scrutiny hearing recently that he is still “not satisfied” with Condor Ferries and the company, “...has a lot of work to do to rebuild the public trust."

Senator Farnham was speaking to the Economic Affairs Scrutiny Panel, and was asked to update them on the progress of a service review which the troubled ferry firm is currently doing, following a tough year of cancellations and engineering problems. 

Chairman Simon Bree said the scrutiny panel had believed, following their last meeting with the Minister in March, that the review was expected to be at a more advanced stage.

However, Senator Farnham clarified that that review is not expected to be made public until the end of September. 

He said Condor had consulted extensively with the public in both Islands and, as a result, there was a massive amount of material to plough through for the review.

And he clarified that the cost of the review was £50,000 each to Jersey and Guernsey while Condor is expected to pay the remainder.

“We’ve all seen a significant improvement in engagement,” Senator Farnham said. “There’s a long way to go.”

You can take part in the Condor customer survey here.

The Minister was asked whether ongoing problems with the £50 million Liberation meant the Island might see another boat used to meet its travel needs, but Senator Farnham said Liberation’s service has seen recent improvements.

Although a problem most recently took it out of service just three weeks ago, that hiccup in service lasted just one day.

“Last year that might have put the boat out for two weeks,” Senator Farnham said. But new procedures Condor has put in place meant they had parts in stock to rectify the problem within a day.

He was adamant that he expects more from the ferry provider, however. “I will be satisfied when the level of service is as close to perfect as we expect,” Mr Farnham said.