Repair work to the Floating Bridge is expected to be complete by the weekend, with normal services resuming on Saturday morning, at the earliest.

In a statement issued at the start of the week, the Isle of Wight Council said it hoped the link between Cowes and East Cowes would be up and running at 5am on Tuesday.

However, additional work was needed for the vessel to return to service, with the council today releasing a subsequent statement.

It said: "The (latest) work is to repair one of the four rams on the loading ramps. As a result of last weekend’s incident, engineers are also stripping down and inspecting the three other rams to confirm that the same issues, or indeed any others, are not present.

"This will reduce the risk of the same issue occurring in the future.

"Investigations have confirmed that this recent incident was not connected with the last set of works which were recently finished."

Following over three months of repairs in the summer, the vessel came back into service mid-October but in the space of two weeks, Floating Bridge 6 has broken down twice.