A PRESSURE group to safeguard Gosport's vital ferry service was launched today.

Dr Richard Williams, the town's Labour parliamentary spokesman, has set up the independent group Ferry Watch in a bid to keep a close eye on the town's amenity and its new owners, the Falkland Islands Holding Company.

He is pictured above with ferry passneger Gayle Batterbury.

Concerns were raised last year that the firm, which took over the business before Christmas, would adjust fares and standards.

More than 15,000 local residents signed a protest petition.

Gosport MP Peter Viggers has pledged to protect the service and told residents he had received assurances from the ferry owners that nothing would be changed.