THE date has been set for the Isle of Wight floating bridge returning to service.

The Isle of Wight council has confirmed that the floating bridge will be returning to service on Wednesday from 5am following an inspection by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).

A spokesman for the MCA said: “Maritime and Coastguard Agency surveyors attended the Cowes Floating Bridge on Friday morning. The outstanding corrective action has been completed to the satisfaction of the surveyors and the vessel’s certificate has been reinstated.”

While the vessel has been out of service over the past couple of weeks, staff have been given additional training.

Isle of Wight councillor Ian Ward, cabinet member for transport, said: “Now that the floating bridge crew have had more time to use the floating bridge and have had more time to get used to it, they are confident and able to bring the bridge closer to the shore. This has mitigated the issues experienced during the first day of its service, as was seen during vehicle testing of embarkation and disembarkation recently. 

“In order to further improve the access to the floating bridge, we have been working with the naval architects/designers to add longer ‘fingers’ to the end of the prows at either end. These will lessen yet further, the angle by which vehicles embark and disembark the floating bridge and improve the ease of access.” 

The new ‘fingers’ are expected to be replaced during July.

The council is urging drivers to drive slowly and carefully when using the new floating bridge.