Isle of Wight Festival: Live updates as thousands travel to the island

Ferries and buses are expected to be busy. Credit: PA

Thousands are expected to descend on the Isle of Wight today as they make their way to the islands 'iconic' festival.

Buses, trains and ferries are expected to be extremely busy, and people are being advised to leave time to complete their journeys.

Ferry companies are putting on extra services and Southern Vectis is running dedicated services to the site.

Here are the latest updates for your journey.

Ferry services:

Services from Southampton on Red Funnel are currently running on time.

The operator says its East Cowes route is best for campers and its West Cowes route is (quickest for VIP & non-campers.

Wightlink services from Portsmouth and Lymington are running smoothly so far.

The operator says its FastCat service to Ryde Pier Head will connect with buses taking people straight to the site.

The Wightlink car ferry St Clare crosses The Solent. Credit: PA Archive/PA Images

Bus services:

There are dedicated bus services running on the Isle of Wight from today (Thursday) until Monday.

Passengers are being urged to check Southern Vectis' website for times and stops.

The operator is reporting delays of around 20 minutes due to congestion and is encouraging revellers to download its app for real-time information.

Routes 5&9 are most affected.

A Southern Vectis bus heads towards Ryde. Credit: Southern Vectis

Rail services:

There is disruption on Island Line services this morning due to a shortage of traincrew.

Passengers are being advised that there will be changes to services, and many could be cancelled.

Operator, SWR, has arranged ticket acceptance with Southern Vectis.

Meanwhile, on the mainland, a good service is operating from Waterloo to Portsmouth, but there are delays on the route to Southampton (where passengers can connect with ferry services).

An SWR train journeys through the south of England. Credit: PA

Road:

There are some small delays on Town Quay in Southampton by the Red Funnel terminal following an earlier closure.

On the Isle of Wight congestion has been reported in Newport.

Traffic Monitoring Service, TomTom, reports queues of around 15 minutes on the A3020.

There's also queueing traffic in the Wootton Common area - with around 10 minutes of delays reported.

Emergency services respond to incident outside ferry terminal in Southampton