Ferry failures

Sir, The saga that is CalMac rumbles on and things don’t look likely to improve anytime soon. But I do get annoyed when the company blames all on the weather when there are other shortcomings quite often to account for reduced service.

Two of note occurred on the weekend of January 4-5. The first was the withdrawal from service of the Caledonian Isles on Friday 3rd instead of Monday 6th, while being fully aware of the large number of bookings to leave Arran that weekend.

The other, which is an on-going issue, is why cannot a decision to cancel the service ‘for the rest of the day’ be revoked when weather conditions improve as happened on Sunday January 5?

It was good to read the report of Arran Ferry Committee and I hope that it will challenge bad decisions such as these.

Everyone on Arran has a gripe with the service and nothing short of a public inquiry into the whole debacle which is CalMac/CMAL and taxpayers’ money already expended will suffice.

It will take a concerted campaign by all parties to seek even limited mitigation such as the reinstatement of Gourock and impress upon the Scottish Government that the current situation is not sustainable for Arran.

Special appreciation is due to Gavin Fulton, chairman of the Arran Ferry Action Group, who has become an excellent media correspondent and spokesman. All power to him for keeping up the pressure in the public domain.

Yours, Margie Currie Blackwaterfoot