Three-day trip takes more than three weeks to finish

TRYING to deliver an eco-friendly heating unit to Tobermory High School on Mull has turned into a marathon beset by problems.

The unit ended up on a long and winding road that took around three weeks because of a series of stumbling blocks on its way.

After 21 days on the road from Ireland to Mull, it still hadn’t reached its destination despite the best efforts of the lorry driver, the police and local farmers.

The Irish driver had to call on local residents for help more than once to get it out of some deep holes - literally.

Police were called into help last Friday afternoon after the lorry carrying the four-metrewide load was refused passage on the CalMac ferry for being too large.

After being refused at the quayside from boarding both the MV Coruisk and the MV Isle

of Mull ferries, CalMac staff found a solution.

They loaded the lorry onto the Colonsay ferry, The Lord of the

Isles, and asked the captain to make an extra stop at Craignure to off-load the heating unit.

After difficulty getting the load off the boat at Craignure, with only inches to spare on the pier, the load took more than four hours to travel north to Tober mory. A car journey between Craignure and Tobermory usually takes around 45 minutes.

Finally arriving in village, the lorry went off the Glengorm Road and had to be dragged out by a farmer using a tractor.

On the final leg of the journey, and within sight of the school, the vehicle got stuck again and had to be dragged out of a garden.

Plans are now being made to bring cranes to the island to take the eco-heating unit to its final resting place at the high school.

A Police Scotland spokesman said that all permission for the movement of the vehicle had been granted and it had an escort for the entire trip.

He said: ‘ We are doing all we can to get the cargo to its destination.

‘It must be exceptionally frustrating for the driver, who thought this would be a threeday journey.’

The Oban Times was unable to contact the company which was delivering the vehicle.

It must be frustrating for the driver, who thought it would be a three-day journey” A spokesman for Police Scotland