Two incidents in two days involving passengers refusing to wear masks while on board BC Ferries led to delays and police calls this week.
The first incident occurred on Tuesday, around 7:16 p.m. A spokesperson for Delta Police says they were contacted by BC Ferries staff in regards to a disruptive passenger.
The passenger who refused to wear a mask was causing a disturbance, and police say they were able to remove that person without incident.
However, the incident led directly to a disruption in service, with BC Ferries tweeting on Tuesday that the Spirit of British Columbia was delayed by nearly an hour.
#ServiceNotice #Tsawwassen – #SwartzBay #SpiritofBritishColumbia is approximately 59 minutes behind schedule due to an earlier police incident. We appreciate you patience & apologize for any inconvenience. Full details here: https://t.co/rffVOBj8xP ^ml
— BC Ferries (@BCFerries) November 4, 2020
The next day, another incident led to Delta Police being called at around 11 a.m.
In the second incident, police received a report of a woman refusing to wear a mask who was taken off the boat without issue and transported to another location within Delta.
According to a spokesperson for BC Ferries, the woman has “caused disturbances on several occasions recently” and was denied travel based on earlier behaviour.
“We appreciate that there are some customers who have medical reasons with doctors notes for not being able to wear masks, however inappropriate behaviour will not be tolerated,” the spokesperson said in an email to Victoria Buzz.
A tweet from BC Ferries says that the incident caused a 49 minute delay on the Tsawwassen-Swartz Bay route.
#ServiceNotice #Tsawwassen – #SwartzBay #SpiritofBC is currently operating 49 minutes behind schedule due to a police emergency. More information can be found here: https://t.co/4eC1oh9EEt ^ta
— BC Ferries | Travel safe. Wear a mask. (@BCFerries) November 4, 2020
Delta Police say no charges were laid in relation to either incident.
