After hearing that Saturday’s 17:10 sailing left foot passengers behind, we have written to CalMac CEO Duncan Mackison. From all accounts (and photos), many people had to stand or sit on the floor for the entire crossing. Some passengers who had already boarded were asked to disembark, because the vessel’s passenger limit was exceeded. “Shambolic” was the description used.
We know that CalMac can only work with the boats they are given, but the Loch Frisa is totally inadequate as our ‘main’ vessel at any time of the year. You will be lucky to get sailings of your choice this side of mid-November. The situation appears to be made worse by poor handling by CalMac. Despite having spent millions of pounds on their new electronic ticketing system, it appears crew have to count passengers manually once boarded in order to know how many people they are carrying.
Meanwhile the Lochaline – Fishnish service is running beyond capacity due to traffic displaced from Craignure – Oban. The crew ran an additional sailing on Sunday night to clear the backlog. Once again, the Lochinvar comes to the rescue.
We have made several points to Mr Mackison –
- If nothing can be done to add capacity, then the situation at least needs to be better managed in the ports. If there are more foot passengers than the ship can carry, volunteers should be sought to be bumped to the next sailing – with free travel on multiple sailings of their choice to compensate.
- Farmers going to Oban market with livestock should not have to drive via Lochaline to get there – they need to be prioritised as a matter of animal welfare. Livestock trailers still can’t be booked online.
- We have asked for a guarantee that finally next winter, more than four years after its introduction, the two-vessel service we were promised is finally introduced.
There are two things that could help you if you can’t get on the sailing you need (aside from queuing at Fishnish) –
Medical Appointment Protocol
If you have a hospital or outpatient appointment you need to drive to or are being discharged from hospital, CalMac will help you. If the sailings you need to use are fully booked, ring CalMac and tell them you need to use th Urgent Medical Appointment Protocol. They should get you a booking for your car on the sailings you need. If they can’t do that, they will pay for a taxi for the mainland portion of your journey. See https://www.calmac.co.uk/en-gb/travel/urgent-medical-appointments/#/ .
If you have any difficulty accessing the Medical Appointment Protocol, email us.
Deck Space Priority Pilot (the 72 hour system)
The priority pilot scheme continues to run. 10% of deck space (that’s about 3 cars on the Frisa) is held back from sale until exactly 72 hours before departure. It’s like sniping a bargain on Ebay a moment before the auction ends. Far from perfect, but if you have to travel on a particular sailing, worth trying.
Finally, here’s a little somthing put together by Alasdair Satchell….
