Currently, EU legislation ensures that anyone affected by the delay or
cancellation of a flight is entitled to a certain level of accommodation and
refreshments or a free transfer onto another flight. For passengers travelling
by train across borders, such as Eurostar, a discount for future journeys is
offered to passengers who are delayed by 90 minutes or more.
Under the new rules, ferry passengers will be entitled to a full or partial
refund should their ferry be cancelled or delayed along with accommodation for
three nights up to the value of £65 a night for each night a passenger is
stranded.
Lib Dem Sir Graham Watson, who was successful in clawing back compensation for
a number of air passengers stranded by the 2010 volcanic ash disruption,
commented:
"This is great news for ferry passengers and for the Westcountry as a
whole, which has some of the UK's
biggest ferry passenger terminals.
"It's important that passengers know their rights when travelling abroad.
One of the key benefits about being a member of the EU is rights such as these.
For many years air and rail passengers have been able to travel with the peace
of mind that, should something go wrong that was not their fault, they would
not be left out of pocket. From this week ferry passengers now have that
guarantee and from March next year the rights will also be extended to bus and
coach passengers."
New rights brought in by the EU to ensure passengers
travelling by ferry are treated fairly for delays and cancellations have been
welcomed by a South West MEP.
