SANDBANKS FERRY ANNOUNCES OFFICIAL RELAUNCH DATE OF 31 OCTOBER 2019
DOUBLE DISCOUNT PROMOTION ON ALL TICKET BOOK SALES, OFFERING UP TO 48% OFF TOLL PRICES
The Sandbanks Ferry Company has officially announced the return of the chain ferry to full service, beginning on Thursday, 31 October 2019.
The service is planned to commence at 07:00 hours from Sandbanks, with 3 crossings per hour in each direction as usual until 23:10 hours from Studland.
In addition, the Company has announced the introduction of double discounts on all books of ferry tickets purchased between now and the end of November 2019.
Mike Kean, Managing Director of the Sandbanks Ferry Company, said: “We are delighted to announce the return of the Sandbanks chain ferry to service on Thursday, October 31st at 07:00.
“We know that the lack of a ferry service has caused a difficult and frustrating summer for many residents of Studland, Swanage and Poole, as well as for local businesses and of course, for the Company and its employees. We’d like to extend our sincere apologies once again for the issues caused by the service suspension, and a heartfelt thank you for the support we’ve been shown by the local communities while the ferry has been out of service. Our staff and contractors have worked incredibly hard over the summer on the repairs in order to return the ferry to the passengers who rely on it.”
“We’re looking forward to welcoming friends old and new on board, and to recommencing a regular, safe and reliable service to the local community, as we have done for many years.”
Ordinarily, ticket discounts vary from 10% on a book of 50 tickets for foot passengers and cycles, to 24% on a book of 50 tickets for a car, light van or goods vehicle. These discounts will be doubled for every book purchased from 31st October to 30th November 2019, which are available to buy from the ferry office & toll boxes and to order from the ferry website as usual.
The chain ferry, which operates a route between Shell Bay in Studland and Sandbanks in Poole, experienced a broken driveshaft earlier this year – an unprecedented and prematurely early failure of a part which had been engineered to last the lifetime of the vessel. To expedite the repair, the Company paid an additional £46,000 to halve the lead time on a replacement component – and as a precautionary measure, replaced the second unaffected driveshaft assembly to minimise any risk of future loss in service.
Details on the ferry timetables can be found at: http://www.sandbanksferry.co.uk/timetable.php. Visit the Sandbanks Ferry Company at www.sandbanksferry.co.uk , on Twitter at @sandbanksferry and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sandbanksferry .