Isle of Wight's Cowes Floating Bridge in service despite closure warning due to staff sickness

The Cowes Floating Bridge on the Isle of Wight will be in operation on Monday, despite warnings it would be suspended for five hours due to staff shortages.

Isle of Wight Council said "staffing has now been secured" and "the service will operate as normal".

Staff sickness was expected to impact crew availability and the authority had apologised for the "inconvenience this may cause".

But the council said on Sunday that it had managed to crew Monday's services and the planned suspension, between 9am and 2pm, had been revoked.

Staffing issues also affected cross-Solent travel at the weekend.

The floating bridge, which runs between East and West Cowes on the Isle of Wight, has been plagued with problems since it first launched in 2017 at a cost of £3 million.

Within the first two years of service, the Floating Bridge was out of action for 12,000 hours with problems ranging from running aground to generator failure.

A Cabinet Office report, released earlier this year, found the vessel had a poor design, broken chains and made excessive noise and some cars with a low bumper were damaged by the ramp.