A few years ago I wrote to the County Press about the difficulties of travel to and from the Isle of Wight.

I had no idea then it would get quite as bad as it is now. All the ferries seem to be chaotic.

I recently waited an extra half-an-hour for a Red Jet (jet — that’s having a laugh) which only had three engines so it was going slowly and past the other Red Jet which had completely limped out of service.

I fail to see that Covid can be blamed for this dismal state.

I am also convinced that, failures apart, the companies regularly drop ferries because they don’t have enough passengers/cars (the famous ‘technical problem’) witness the dropping of most late evening crossings.

So when will there be an acknowledgement by the Isle of Wight population that the time is long overdue for a fixed link and embrace it with gusto?

I am Isle of Wight born and bred, but I dread making the crossing now, simply because it is unreliable, tedious and grossly out of date in the 21st Century.

If there were a genuine need expressed for a fixed link then it would surely happen, but I fear that I will not see it in my lifetime, if ever.

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