UK Blog Post: Smelly lorry drivers: The nation is divided

[LauraS]

I’m wondering whether Lord Sterling is hanging his head in cringing shame or punching the air in a victory salute today after his rant about lorry drivers made the headlines yesterday. During a tour of the new cruise terminal at Portsmouth, the chairman of Swan Hellenic and Hebridean Island Cruises launched into a tirade about [...]

 

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[John Bull]

I’m wondering whether Lord Sterling is hanging his head in cringing shame or punching the air in a victory salute today after his rant about lorry drivers made the headlines yesterday. During a tour of the new cruise terminal at Portsmouth, the chairman of Swan Hellenic and Hebridean Island Cruises launched into a tirade about [...]

 

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What cruise terminal???????

Portsmouth has a ferry terminal. It's being up-graded to a better ferry terminal. It's scheduled to have just 40 cruise ship visits next year, compared to several daily ferries.

If Lord Sterling's passengers are going to use a ferry terminal, they'll come into contact with ferry passengers. Including young back-packers who have the temerity to travel as lowly foot-passengers, and the occasional coachload of schoolkids off on their first adventure. Tough I know, but I suspect most of his passengers will survive these encounters with the great unwashed.

My experience of ferry terminals, including Portsmouth, is that trucks are in any case segregated from cars & foot-passengers, so there was no need for the pompous old snob to insult truck drivers of either smelly or perfumed varieties.

 

The small ships of his lordship's lines are promoted as visiting places off the beaten track. That's one of the joys of the little ships, but such places rarely have even the luxury of a ferry terminal, most don't even have a quayside.

Portsmouth has much more to offer the day visitor than Southampton & I'd vote for Portsmouth's places of interest over Southampton's facilities any day. Perhaps Lord Sterling should concentrate on these positives rather than criticise his perceived negatives.

 

His lordship would also do better to address the standards of his ships rather than insult his past & potential customers, most of whom also use ferries. Discovery, for instance, is well past her sell-by date. He was careful to describe his passengers as 5-star, rather than his ships, because he knows that his ships certainly are not. Even Brittany's ferries put Discovery to shame.

 

John Bull

[scrozuk]

Portsmouth has much more to offer the day visitor than Southampton & I'd vote for Portsmouth's places of interest over Southampton's facilities any day. Perhaps Lord Sterling should concentrate on these positives rather than criticise his perceived negatives.

 

 

John Bull

 

You know, even though I live in Southampton, have to agree with you on this. Gunwharf Quays are our favourite haunt when I'm off shift, especially if it's a nice day, a course of tapas at La Tosca, watch the ships go by. Then there's Old Portsmouth, Historic Dockyard, Southsea Common, the Pier.

 

There is plenty of history within Southampton as well, but apart from the Titanic museum, the rest of the places of historical interest aren't so obvious.

 

As for having to use the same terminal for both cruises and ferries, I imagine it's only a temporary thing. Can't imagine that the lorry drivers are any worse than the lot I encountered in Ostende in August, now they were a dirty bunch.

 

ScrozUK

[sddsddean]

Being an unsmelly lorry driver who probably works a damn sight hard than Lord bloody Sterling (pompous git), guess who I won't be travelling with!!!!!

 

Simon