THOUSANDS of people have put their names to a petition demanding ticketing machines for Windermere’s 500-year-old ferry be scrapped.

Campaigners have written to the chief executive of Cumbria County Council to say promised improvements will not go far enough to alleviate the problems caused by "inadequate" shore-based ticket machines.

Long traffic queues, sparring matches and even physical aggression have been reported since the machines' introduction last summer.

The petition, signed by more than 3,100 people, calls for the reinstatement of a single, on-board payment scheme.

It comes just over a fortnight after the local authority announced improvements designed to appease furious opposition to the shore-based ticket terminals. The council has installed additional machines which, it says, are easier to use, and promised on-board payments will eventually be reinstated, but only via a contactless debit or credit card.

But the saga looks set to drag on as Jenny Slee, who has been using the ferry for 50 years, and fellow campaigners continue their fight to return to the previous system.

She said: “This ‘silently seething majority’ is now being given a voice and the 3,152 signatories, along with some of their comments, highlight the negative effects suffered daily by customers and ferry staff and which will clearly not be alleviated by yet more machines, even if they are ‘easier to use’.”

The letter also contains a damning collection of comments from petition signatories, with criticism such as “a fantastic, reliable service has been transformed into a slow, costly, inefficient farce”.