Ferry passengers stranded on island after cancellations

Ferry passengers have been stranded on Arran after bad weather caused service disruption and cancellations.

Gusts of up to 60mph have affected the safe delivery of CalMac sevices from Brodick to Adrossan over the weekend.

The operator managed to clear “around half” of cars booked to leave Arran by using a service from Lochranza to Tarbert on Sunday.

However, disruption has continued and more cancellations have taken place on Monday.

Robert Morrison, director of operations at CalMac, said: “There has been severe weather related disruption since the New Year with gusts of up to 60mph impacting on our ability to deliver services to Arran and elsewhere.

“In such conditions ships’ Masters will take a decision on whether it is safe to sail or not based on wind speed and direction, sea swell and tidal conditions combined with their experience of sailing in west coast waters.

“As the weather cleared on January 3 we laid on four extra sailings from Brodick to the mainland the maximum we could, to clear the backlog of traffic which we succeeded in doing by the 1520 sailing.

“Disruption continued on January 5 across the network with sailings suspended from Brodick to Ardrossan due to weather. To try and keep passengers moving we laid on an additional shuttle service from Lochranza to Tarbert succeeding in moving around half the cars that were booked to sail.

“Unfortunately, it is a reality of island life that in mid winter there is always a likelihood that some sailings will be cancelled due to adverse weather conditions impacting on passengers ability to travel when they want and we strive to do all we can to manage this effectively.”

Further bad weather is forecast for Tuesday, meaning there is heightened possibility of more disruption and cancellation at shire notice.

CalMac has advised customers to travel on Monday where possible, when service resumes.