IRISH Ferries was wrong to claim it offered the lowest return fare on the Irish Sea, an Advertising Standards Authority investigation has found.
Stena Line took the complaint to the ASA, claiming it had the same £99 fare as Irish Ferries for travel from Holyhead-Dublin and therefore Irish Ferries could not claim to be the cheapest.
The ASA upheld the complaint despite Irish Ferries claims that its two cruise ferries carried 2,200 passengers and could not be compared to Stena’s conventional ferries. Irish Ferries also said that because it operated different routes, a comparison could not be made on prices.
But the ASA concluded that, although the two operators used different sized ferries, comparing the different sailing routes to Ireland was reasonable because they both sailed from Holyhead to Dublin.
Therefore, the ASA has asked the company to change the advert because Irish Ferries does not offer a fare that was lower than those for every comparable crossing.