CAR ferry passengers will not be allowed to remain in their vehicles while crossing the Solent anymore - from this morning.

Restrictions had been eased during the pandemic.

But from today, July 13, all customers on Wightlink’s Fishbourne to Portsmouth route and the majority of the customers on the Red Funnel's East Cowes to Southampton route will be asked to leave their vehicles after embarkation and spend the journey in the passenger lounges or outside sundecks.

Everyone over the age of 11 will have to wear face coverings during the journey, as it is a legal requirement on public transport.

Wightlink chief executive Keith Greenfield said: “We made the decision to ask customers to vacate their vehicles because our spacious passenger lounges are the safest and most comfortable places for people to stay during their crossing.

“More people are now crossing the Solent with Wightlink following the Government’s relaxation of non-essential travel and need to use the lounge facilities onboard.

“Wightlink has operated ferries on the Portsmouth to Fishbourne route throughout the pandemic and staff have extensive experience in operating safely.

"There is plenty of room in our lounges for customers to find a place to sit while keeping a social distance from other people. Cafés will be open on most sailings and you’re allowed to take off your face covering to eat and drink.

“Ships are cleaned frequently and to high standards, hand sanitisers are available and there are facilities for customers to wash their hands in all internal passenger lounges.”

When Wightlink’s Yarmouth to Lymington route resumes on Friday, July 17, the same rules will apply.

Red Funnel has also provided advance notice to its customers that it will be transitioning all sailings back to their usual format, whereby every passenger on board will need to vacate their vehicles and ascend to the designated passenger decks.

However, the 9pm departure from Southampton and 10.30pm departure from East Cowes will remain as ‘stay in vehicle’ sailings until July 31.

The ferry operators had worked with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) previously, to temporarily allow passengers to remain in vehicles on select crossings, in order to protect those passengers who were shielding during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Fran Collins, chief executive of Red Funnel, said: “With the government withdrawing its advice to shield from August 1, now is the right time for us to make changes to our ‘stay in vehicle’ crossings and move closer to resuming our usual operations.

"We hope that by giving customers as much notice as possible this will benefit our passengers and prepare them for the changes.

"We have put a lot of measures in place to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our passengers, including reducing our overall capacity to enable social distancing.

"We want to emphasise that passengers should feel safe to travel on our ferries and we have all the provisions in place to welcome them back on board safely.”

Red Funnel will continue to offer assistance to extremely vulnerable passengers to remain in their vehicle if they are travelling to or from an NHS appointment.

For more information about this option and how to request it, customers should visit www.redfunnel.co.uk/SailSafe