Rain causes huge traffic delays at the Isle of Wight festival forcing three ferries to be held on the Solent
At least 600 people were stranded on ferries after heavy rain made it impossible for cars to disembark on the Isle of Wight.
Huge traffic jams choked the island last night as the bad weather flooded fields that had been earmarked as car parks for the Isle of Wight Festival.
Passenger cars were prevented from leaving ferries docked at Fishbourne because there was nowhere for them to go.
The gridlock meant there were no free berths to accommodate the ferries already travelling from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight. This forced three ferries to wait on the Solent until space became available.
It’s been reported that some passengers were stuck at sea for over three hours.
One of the people stranded was BBC correspondent Keith Doyle, who estimated that the number of people waiting on the Solent was much higher than the reported 600.
“On this particular ferry there’s probably about 400 people,” he told the BBC yesterday. “There’s another ferry I can see – another Wightlink ferry that’s close to us – and I’m guessing there’s the same number of people there.”
“We’ve been stuck in the middle of the Solent for the last three hours,” he added.
Around 65,000 were expected to attend the rock festival this weekend but many have been told to leave their cars on the mainland.
Wightlink today said they are running to their usual schedule but recommend that passengers travel by foot where possible.