DOZENS of car ferry cancellations have been announced by Red Funnel — at the height of summer just as the school holidays start.

As previously reported by the County Press, Red Funnel has around a third of its staff self-isolating due to Covid Test and Trace.

Today, Red Funnel chief executive Fran Collins said: "As we approach the school holidays, we want to provide our customers with confidence in their bookings, as well as ensure our Island passengers continue to receive a reliable service, despite busier periods.

"Protecting the busy Friday to Monday weekend period is essential to minimise the impact on local traffic, and to ensure we safeguard our passengers’ weekend travel plans to the best of our ability.

"For this reason, we have made the decision to reduce our service for the coming two weeks. This decision will allow colleagues to be redeployed to supplement Friday to Monday services as well as provide more bandwidth for our teams to be able to recruit and train new team members."

The following vehicle sailings will be cancelled on July 20, 21, 22, and July 27, 28, 29 (Tuesdays to Thursdays).

Departures from Southampton: 0500, 0800, 1100, 1400, 1700 and 2100.

Departures from East Cowes: 0630, 0930, 1230, 1530, 1830 and 2230.

The last opportunity to depart the Island via Red Funnel on the affected days is 9pm.

The freight ferry, Red Kestrel, will remain in service with a change to the schedule, with sailings departing 34 minutes later, departing Southampton at 0459, 0759, 1059 and East Cowes at 0629, 0929 and 1229.

All customers with bookings on cancelled sailing times will receive an email and/or text notification with their new departure time, within the next 24 hours.

The majority of customers can expect that their booking will be moved to one hour later than their original departure time.

Customers are advised to verify their new departure time by consulting their email and/or text messages.

Those requiring further assistance should call Red Funnel on 023 8001 9192.

Ms Collins added: "I am very sorry that these actions have been necessary and we thank our customers for their continued patience and understanding as we continue to do the best we can to keep sailing during these challenging times.

"I also extend thanks to our incredible teams who are working very hard to provide more certainty to our customers and minimise the impact on local traffic.

"We will continue to review our schedule regularly and keep customers informed should any further changes be necessary."