Hundreds of Take That fans travelling back to the Isle of Wight feared the worst having been met with a full Red Jet last night (Saturday) - but their 'anger' soon turned to relief as they managed to board the car ferry home. There was particular praise for staff on Red Funnel and floating bridge workers on the Island, who "made it work, whatever the conditions." Those who went to Southampton to watch Gary Barlow and co at St Mary's Stadium had to have more than a little patience when long queues formed as they tried to head home.
An additional Red Jet sailing to the Island, at 11.45pm, was announced prior to the concert but readers reported that the sailing was full and unable to accommodate any more people. This resulted in hundreds of foot passengers having to queue to get on the midnight car ferry, which departed late.
Meanwhile, some car ferry passengers already booked on the crossing said they were told they would have to wait until the 5am sailing this morning. After protesting, they said they were eventually allowed on. A cheer went out when Red Funnel announced that the floating bridge crew had waited on an extra hour to make sure those arriving in East Cowes could get back.
One person said: "If they had ran a couple more Red Jets, especially knowing how busy it would be, the car ferry wouldn’t have had the problems and the floating bridge staff wouldn’t have to stay on, and everyone wouldn’t have felt so stressed and late home." While another person said: "Ter.