HAVING bank holidays on different days to the UK has been ‘disastrous’ for business and ‘disruptive’ for customers, according to one Manx company boss.
John Quaye, chairman of Manx Independent Carriers, believes the only Manx public holiday should be Tynwald Day – and government must consult with businesses over any future additional bank holidays.
He said: ‘These past three months have been disastrous in terms of turnover and profits and have caused serious disruption not only to our business but also to our customers businesses.
‘Businesses such as ours are severely affected due to the fact that we trade daily with the adjacent island with more than 90 per cent of our customers being based there and they expect us to answer our telephones, make collections and deliveries and basically to mirror their activities.
‘It is most inconvenient then to the operation of our business when whoever is responsible for deciding on bank holidays make that decision without consultation with the business sector. I suspect the civil servant who puts the proposal forward for approval is more interested in having the time off than the effect that it has on the business sector.’
Manx Independent Carrier’s Snugborough depot in Douglas was open as normal on each bank holiday that was observed here but not in the UK.
Mr Quaye, who said he has corresponded with member for Economic Development Laurence Skelly MHK over the issue, said: ‘When you lose 10 per cent of your available trading days each month it severely harms any business, the overheads remain the same but you have less revenue. Trying to arrange staff entitlement to days off in lieu is a total nightmare, some were off for Manx holidays, some were off for UK holidays and some were off because we simply ran out of work.
‘Had the holidays mirrored each other then perhaps our staff could have enjoyed a day or two off with everyone else but the decision of government meant that the whole situation was one of uncertainty and doubt. I am sure that our situation is similar to many other island based businesses with UK operations and indeed I am sure it must have been a major source of inconvenience for the banks themselves.’
He added: ‘Hopefully we will not have any more of these additional bank holidays for a while and we will return to the normal pattern. My preference is that the island mirrors the UK holidays exactly and we do away with the irrelevant Isle of Man-only Senior Race day bank holiday – I never understood why we had it in what is the busiest week of the year – and that the only Manx bank holiday should be Tynwald Day.
‘I firmly believe that government, rather than unilaterally deciding on when they will severely debilitate the island’s businesses, should consult with us, probably via the Chamber of Commerce. We all know these are straitened times and the last thing we want is the government shooting everyone in the foot.’