South Uist ferry returns to service after weeks deployed elsewhere
CalMac cut sailings from Lochboisdale to Mallaig for almost the whole of June after MV Lord of the Isles was deployed to Islay.
Friday 30 June 2023 13:49, UK
An island ferry service has resumed after being cancelled for almost a month.
South Uist islanders were said to have been driven "to despair" by the disruption when ferry firm CalMac cut sailings from Lochboisdale to Mallaig on the mainland at the beginning of June.
MV Lord of the Isles, the vessel which serves the route, had been redeployed to Islay due to repair issues elsewhere in the fleet.
The ferry has now returned and resumed sailings a day earlier than planned.
The first service departed Lochboisdale at 9.40am on Friday.
Robbie Drummond, chief executive of CalMac, said: "I know this has been a very difficult time for our communities with the prolonged cancellation of service and I am sorry for the issues this has caused our businesses and wider communities throughout North and South Uist.
"As many of our customers will have already made alternative plans to travel across the Sound of Barra and via Castlebay, these additional connecting sailings on the Sound of Barra will remain in place in both directions up to and including Friday 30 June."
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The withdrawal of Lord of the Isles was met with anger and protests.
During First Minister's Questions earlier this month, Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said the government's "failure to build a working ferry network" was causing chaos by "ruining lives, damaging businesses, costing jobs and driving islanders to despair".
Mr Ross called on the Scottish government to compensate the islanders for the disruption.
First Minister Humza Yousaf said he would keep an "open mind" over compensation and accepted it was a "fair question" to raise, but explained that it had not yet been brought forward because performance deductions taken from CalMac are invested back into the network.