The only time I've ever flown a Dash VFR was for base training. I can't imagine many of my colleagues - in fact make that any of my colleagues - taking one for a VFR cross-country, let alone with passengers on board. We do not carry VFR charts, and if we were unable to continue a flight under IFR (note continue, not commence) then it would have to be a seriously bad day in terms of failures, so bad in fact that I'm struggling to even think of a scenario. As all the other Flybe pilots have said, I suspect someone somewhere is getting a bit confused with the terminology.
Anne
I'm probably wasting my breath here, but just for a bit of perspective - I have operated a grand total of 238 flights over the last 6 months. Three of them were delayed by more than an hour, of which one was caused by a series of baggage and check-in errors, and two were technical faults which meant the aircraft could not operate safely until it was fixed. Of the other 99% of flights, the vast majority arrived either on time or early.
And for anyone who believes that sitting in the wrong row will not affect the balance of a long and thin aeroplane, try this experiment. Take two small kids to the park and balance them on either end of a see-saw. Then get one of them to move 6 inches and note the effect. It is exactly the same principle. We don't ask people to move for a laugh, we do it to ensure the aircraft is in trim (i.e. balanced) and thus safe to fly.