Praise for CalMac staff
If anyone deserves praise this week it is the CalMac port staff in Oban and Mull who have bore the brunt of customers’ frustrations this Bank Holiday weekend as CalMac tries to fix the problems with its new ticketing system amid the ongoing pressures due to the reduction in ferry capacity.
Many islanders, businesses and visitors have had the stress of their reservations being cancelled at the last minute because of the glitches in the new ticketing software.
We agree with Joe Reade, MIFC chairperson, who told port staff: “The roll out of this software has been a shambles...Having had an extra year to prepare for this, you’d have thought it would have been more rigorously tested before throwing the switch.”
The longed-for holiday plans cancelled or delayed, birthday parties missed, businesses paying the price are all inexcusable – as is the abuse that front line staff are having to put up with. CalMac managers were invited to get alongside Craignure staff to help them deal with the problems – and angry customers, face-to-face. But unsurprisingly no one has shown face so far.
The invitation should have gone to government ministers too.
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