Disruption to Isle of Man passenger ferry sailings

Daytime passenger ferry sailings between the Isle of Man and Lancashire have been cancelled due to poor weather conditions.

The 08:45 BST crossing of the island's main passenger vessel the Manxman to Heysham and its afternoon return have been scrapped.

It follows the cancellation of Monday evening's sailing to the port along with its overnight Douglas-bound return.

The conditions also saw Tuesday's 19:45 sailing pushed back by more than an hour, however the 15:00 crossing of the fast craft vessel Manannan to Liverpool departed as scheduled.

But, the firm said the weather forecast meant there were also doubts over Wednesday's daytime sailings of the flagship vessel between the island's capital and the Lancashire port.

Ronaldsway Met Office said gusts of up to 40mph (64km/h) were expected at times on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Strong winds in the Lancashire port previously led to disruption to some sailings last week.

The Manxman, which came into service a year ago, suffered damage during stormy conditions when entering the Heysham facility on 21 August.

While temporary repairs to the vessel were made at the time, the impact with the linkspan had led to some passenger delays as the Steam Packet had to use a different berth for a time.

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