CALEDONIAN MacBrayne has been forced to withdraw later sailings on the Rothesay-Wemyss Bay ferry route on Friday nights due to building work at Rothesay pier.
The summer-only sailings from Rothesay at 7.45pm, and from Wemyss Bay at 8.40pm, will not operate on Friday evenings until further notice because of more delays with the work, which began in January and was originally meant to last for just six weeks
.
We now understand that the disruption - which prevents more than one ferry berthing overnight at Rothesay - is now likely to last until at least late May or early June.
CalMac's regional manager Brian Fulton said the disruption at the pier and the enforced diversion to Gourock had combined with the longer summer timetable to break regulations on ferry crews' working hours.
"In effect it meant asking the crews to work a 17-and-a-half-hour day, and that's a no-go area - we just couldn't do it," he said.
"The only other alternative was to cancel three sailings on a Saturday afternoon but we didn't feel that was acceptable either."
The changes are summed up in the following temporary evening timetable for the route:
From Wemyss Bay7.00pm Operates Sat & Sun only
7.45pm Operates Mon-Fri only
8.40pm Operates Sat & Sun only
From Rothesay6.15pm Operates to Gourock Mon-Fri and to Wemyss Bay Sat/Sun
7.00pm Operates to Gourock Sat/Sun and to Wemyss Bay Mon-Fri
7.45pm Operates Sat & Sun only and sails to Wemyss Bay
All other sailings operate as per the published timetable.
The full article contains 278 words and appears in The Buteman newspaper.
