AN MP has accused ferry bosses of treating island communities with contempt after they snubbed a public meeting to air complaints about services.
Ross, Skye and Lochaber MP Ian Blackford had called on CalMac CEO Martin Dorchester to attend next Wednesday’s meeting in Sleat to discuss reinstating the MV Coruisk to the Mallaig-to-Armadale route.
There have been complaints that the vessels which replaced the purpose-built Coruisk were not fit for purpose on the route.
The National approached CalMac and were given a statement that made no mention of Dorchester going to the meeting.
When pressed if he would attend, a spokesman replied: “No, he will not.”
Blackford told The National: “It is a real slap in the face to those communities that rely on the ferries that neither the chief executive officer nor any of his senior management team are prepared to meet with local people and hear their legitimate concerns. They are treating the local communities with contempt.
“They should be coming to this meeting – which we offered to arrange at a date and time of their convenience – and not only listening to local people but also doing the right thing and giving us a vessel that is fit for purpose, not the current arrangement of boats that can’t function at low tide. You could not make it up.
“They think as a ferry operator that we should accept vessels with a much constrained operating capability as opposed to the reliable service that we previously had.”
Blackford said CalMac knew the ships that would replace the Coruisk would have operational limitations and could not function at low tide.
“Caledonian MacBrayne are well aware that the vessels currently operating the route are suited for operations from a slipway rather than the linkspan the Coruisk is designed to operate from,” he said.
“The MV Coruisk was purpose built for the Mallaig-Armadale route and it has a high degree of reliability. According to the Sleat transport forum, out of 428 planned sailings in April 2015, the vessel completed 426 with only two cancelled.
“We can contrast this with the shambles that is the current operation since the removal of the MV Coruisk. Between March 25 and April 23, there were 56 cancellations out of 516 planned sailings.”
The MP said he supported CalMac continuing as ferry operator on the island routes, but claimed there had been “management failure” in allowing the situation to develop.
The CalMac statement said: “Senior management from CalMac met very recently with the Sleat Transport Forum and have taken on board their views. We are currently looking at ways of making changes to the timetable that will go some way to addressing their concerns around reliability. We would not have anything more to add at a public forum at this time.
“Over the first month of operations this new, more flexible three-vessel service has seen passenger numbers increase by 19 per cent, cars up 29 per cent and the coach travel tourism trade is up by 20 per cent on the same period last year.
“The route has so far this season experienced no capacity issues and is currently carrying more people and vehicles than it has ever done.”
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