Brittany Ferries to cut UK-France routes

BF’s priorities are all wrong . The obsession with pet-friendly facilities and the subsequent cost of ensuring free rein for animals and their equally obsessive owners on their latest ferry is inexplicable, and a demonstration of their lack of business acumen. When I expressed this opinion to BF staff, they agreed and one told me that the staff were against the decision and had expressed their views to the management. The dog-friendly policy results in extended delays at check-in points, dogs and owners being given priority on lifts from the car decks, aggressive dogs causing distress to passengers, owners who refuse to respect the rule that all dogs must be muzzled, not to mention the extremely unpleasant smells . One further point-as a European citizen, I am forced to queue for over an hour post-disembarkation behind all non- EU passport holders-because there is no separate lane.

If they weren't so dammed expensive more people would use them The English channel is the most expensive piece of water the world to cross , It should be heavily subsidised in order to encourage more trade and tourism

While we can understand the financial reasons behind BF's decision to retrench, the loss of Poole-Cherbourg is a bit of a blow for us as it's the "least worst" crossing for us in our part of Devon and especially so as BF don't run Plymouth-Roscoff all year round and had recently introduced winter sailings from Poole. These days the amount of traffic and the perennial lack of investment in UK roads means that the drive to/from Portsmouth is getting increasingly worse so we may now be looking at train and/or plane options for travel in the winter months. BF's option of travelling from Poole via Guernsey to get to France (or Pompey - Cherbourg) really does not appeal. Still hoping that BF can keep the lights on and resume direct Poole - Cherbourg at some point in the future and fingers crossed for their staff as well.

We first used Brittany Ferrieswhen it was zn old Ex Baltic Ferry to take onions znd cauliflowers from Roscoff to Plymouth, it was not the best of crossings but carried us many times. As they grew with bigger and posher ships we started to take our caravan and eventually bought holiday home. We were members of the frequent travellers club giving us a few perks and the kids slight reductions. The rapid growth of the company and big posh ferries probably didnt help with their finances. My last trip, by now we had moved to France, was Santander to Plymouth and back from Portsmouth. I can understand dropping a few routes but we always had great service

I started to use BF whe they started with an old Baltic Ferry, Plymouthto Roscoff, I can't remember the name, and continued to use them as they grew. We were frequent travel club members, a few perks like cheap cabins and my family had discounts too. We saw the growth from an old tub to export onions and cauliflowers to UK to the huge superferries and routes to Spain. Suddenly the frequent traveller stopped, prices shot up and we moved to France. Our 2 return trips and my kids holidays in our mobile home stopped too. My last trip was from Santandar to Plymouth and back from Portsmouth, but to be honest the quality had slipped. I'm not surprised they have problems, they grew far to big to maintain the expected service.