DESPITE the amount of times the service has been out of action, Floating Bridge 6 (FB6) still generates an income, according to the council leader.

Speaking at a meeting of the Isle of Wight Council's corporate scrutiny committee, Cllr Dave Stewart said 'the bits' around the vessel not making money or providing a service needed to be dispelled as they are not true.

Quoting figures showing the crossing ran 95 and 99 per cent to schedule in January and February respectively, Cllr Stewart hoped they would provide some reassurance to residents the vessel was available although it may not be 'fully fit for purpose'.

In the first two months of the year, which did have periods where FB6 was not working, the vessel carried 13,900 passengers, 10,676 vehicles and ran for a total of 1111 hours, 'probably creating income' said Cllr Stewart.

Over the last four years, however, with the vessel plagued with problems and at times constantly being taken out of service, Cllr Stewart said the crossing had generated an income from charges to use the service of around £2 million for the council.

In an attempt to recover its capital losses, through legal mediation which is currently taking place, the council has submitted a substantial claim of all the costs associated to the bridge, including for the passenger boats used when the service is out and the barge to help at high tides.

The corporate scrutiny committee yesterday considered a report into the procurement process and agreed, in a 5-3 vote, to support the recommendations — that there were no issues with the approach taken to procurement, tendering and contacting and a future scrutiny committee can review the outcomes of the mediation as a basis for making recommendations on lessons learnt for the whole council from this project.