Ferries: Coronavirus

(asked on 2nd June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of permitting ferry passengers to remain in their cars in line with social distancing measures during the covid-19 outbreak.


Answered by
Kelly Tolhurst Portrait
Kelly Tolhurst
This question was answered on 8th June 2020

The carriage of passengers on vehicle decks of ferries was considered early in the Department’s mitigations to the COVID-19 outbreak weighing risk against the need to maintain life-line services.

Limited exemptions were provided on the basis of risk assessments developed by operators for domestic operators with open-decked passenger vessels on short voyages to facilitate safe transport with passengers remaining in their cars on vehicle decks.

For larger vessels on international voyages no exemptions have been requested, though a framework of considerations was developed with our European partners to guide industry on areas for consideration should an exemption be requested specifically to the carriage of a limited number of freight drivers in the cabs of their vehicles.

There are no (a) legislative, (b) health and safety or (c) regulatory requirements for ferry passengers to remain in vehicles during travel.

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