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The Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Team
Closed petition PE1872: Improve the reliability of island ferry services
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to urgently ensure that all Islanders have access to reliable ferry services.
Previous action taken
I have contacted Alasdair Allan MSP.
Background information
Unreliable ferry services are causing huge losses to island economies. After a very difficult 18 months with no tourists, holidaymakers who had booked for this year are now cancelling as Calmac regularly cancel their ferry bookings.
In Uist, we are suffering tremendously and constantly refunding people's bookings. As a very small island we do not have a choice of employment and we need the tourists back.
Islanders have been told by Calmac that they will not be allowed on ferries to the mainland until 8th June. The Uist ferry, Lord of the Isles, is consistently deployed to cover other ferries which have broken down, leaving us without a reliable service. Many islanders cannot afford to fly.
People want to come here on holiday, but this situation is putting them off. We stuck rigidly to the covid rules and thought there would be light at the end of the tunnel, but the current situation is disastrous.
This petition was considered by the Scottish Parliament
674 signatures