Woolwich Ferry farewell tour abandoned due to last minute closure

A farewell event planned on the Woolwich ferry this afternoon has been cancelled after a last minute announcement that boats will stop at midday for the entire weekend.

TfL have blamed a lack of staff for this weekends closure. Service levels have been poor in recent weeks with a one boat service at many times.

The ships have been showing their age.

The service is due to stop entirely from October 6th until late December as new boats are introduced.

Hopefully the new boats are reliable as the service will need to rely on two rather than three boats in coming years.

They feature new technology such as automatic magnetic berthing which could well have some technical hitches upon introduction.

The three current boats are to be moved to northern France and likely to be scrapped.

Two new boats, built in Gdansk, will replace them. The boats are named after Ben Woollacott, who sadly died in 2011 whilst working on the ferries, and Dame Vera Lynn.

Next Saturday is due to be the last ever day of running for the old ferries, as covered here, though with current issues who knows if it’ll stop before. Get down in the week if you want one last trip.

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