Stena Line ferry waits for Irish passengers travelling home to vote following UK train delays

The company has since been praised for its compassion.

A Stena Line ferry travelling from the UK to Ireland on Friday morning has vowed to wait for its passengers following a series of UK train delays. The boat, set to depart Fishguard for Rosslare at 1.10pm, would have been missed by a number of passengers set to travel to Ireland due to a succession of rail hold-ups. Realising that a lot of people wouldn't have made the trip home, Louise O'Connor made a plea for help on social media, which drew a response from Stena Line. O'Connor initially took to Twitter to plead with train line Arriva Trains Wales to hold a train and "help make democracy happen". A Stena Line representative caught wind of the plea and replied to O'Connor, saying they would do their best to facilitate all of those set to travel. https://twitter.com/StenaLineUKIE/status/999954962166829056 Speaking to JOE on Friday, O'Connor revealed the reasons for deciding to post the plea in the first place.  who told us why she made the decision to post her plea to social media. "It was actually my friend Vivian that was travelling. I saw her Facebook post and thought I’d use the power of Twitter to see if we could help. "The ferry is at 1.30pm as far as I know, so fingers crossed all travelling will make it. "My friend's battery is dead so I'm not even sure if she knows what’s happened. Hopefully she can get access to a charging port on the ferry and we can get an update." A number of those set to travel aboard the ferry are believed to be travelling home to vote in Friday's Eighth Amendment referendum. Following Stena Line's decision to halt travel until all passengers are aboard, a plethora of Irish voters have taken to sending the Stena Line Twitter profile messages of support. https://twitter.com/StenaLineUKIE/status/999963024701173760 https://twitter.com/museandchat/status/999956350053568512 https://twitter.com/PantiBliss/status/999970019109953537 Polls for the Eighth Amendment referendum are set to stay open until 10pm, meaning passengers set for the slightly delayed ferry should be home in time to cast their vote. JOE got in touch with Stena Line representative Lawrence Duffy, Managing Director of Duffy Rafferty communications – the group who deals with the ferry company's PR – who informed us that the boat, which was set to depart at 1.10pm from Fishguard, actually left as scheduled.

"The delay was due to a connecting rail issue which brought on a discussion about a substitute bus service," Rafferty began.

"The train was broken down so a couple of coaches and taxis were organised as well as a bus, but you are limited in what you can do with those parameters.

"The ferry was due to leave Fishguard Port at 1.10pm on Friday as scheduled, and I can confirm that is has left with all passengers who were caught by train delays aboard."