From Alex Harrison.
I WRITE in connection with the announcement by HD Ferries that they would suspended services to and from St Malo for the winter season with effect from 8 September.

Since HD began operating on the route, their name has been synonymous with unreliability and cancelled sailings. Their mechanical issues last year were well documented and in many instances (apart from when they collided with another ferry in the harbour), the issues were outside their control and unfortunate.

However, to make an announcement giving clients a mere four days’ notice of the suspension of services is outrageous and points to a callous attitude on the part of the management within HD Ferries towards its clients. I feel strongly that, as a result of this action taken by HD and in particular the complete lack of notice given, they should have their licence revoked from operating the route.

Either they are providing a service or they are not. They should not be able to cherry pick the time of year they wish to run, and even if they do choose to cease sailing, there should be some protection for clients booked in the immediate future.

What kind of a business strategy is this anyway? Now that HD ferries have taken this course of action, who in their right mind will book with them out of season next year?

The announcement states that the decision has been taken for economic reasons. Was this decision made out of the blue on Wednesday 3 September? I doubt it. There is no justification for cutting the service completely in the space of four days. Surely the correct way to handle it would be to run a reduced service through September at least and accommodate as many passengers as possible on the remaining sailings – or even have their customer services rebook passengers on Condor.

I had a reservation to travel with HD on the early morning sailing on the 8th, returning on 14 September and it was only by chance that my wife caught the end of an announcement on Channel TV about the suspension of sailings. HD Ferries made no attempt to contact us as passengers on the very first sailing affected.

We were lucky in that I was able to rebook on the all-year-round provider Condor as soon as I found out. Had we not heard the news until the weekend it is very likely that there would have been no availability for us to travel.
HD Ferries need to realise that they operate a client service industry.

After the disastrous year they had last year, I am literally staggered that their senior management have acted this way. They have operated a pretty reliable service during the summer as far as I am aware and the public was probably beginning to feel confident in the service again but this has got to be a PR disaster that, from a local point of view, is on the scale of a certain Gerald Ratner.
I, for one, will never book with them again.
10 Clos du Petit Pont,
Rue du Craslin,
St Peter.