Kilcreggan has been without its ferry service for almost two weeks, with public authorities giving conflicting reasons for the latest problem.
The Island Princess was taken out of service on Monday February 12 after intermittent cancellations in the previous days and hasn’t been seen since.
Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT), which funds the lifeline route, said last week that ‘a technical deficiency had been experienced’ and that once it was fixed the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) would need to give its approval.
This seemed to be directly contradicted by the MCA however, with a spokesperson saying last week: “I can confirm that the Island Princess has been out of service since last Monday to complete her Passenger Ship Annual Surveys.”
With frustration mounting, and no sign even of a replacement bus service, a local church minister has appeared on national radio appealing for the Scottish Government to intervene.
And MSP Jackie Baillie has repeated her calls for SPT to hand the route over to Clyde Marine before the scheduled date of July, saying she has ‘serious concerns over whether Clydelink is a fit and proper company to operate a passenger ferry service’.
Rev Christine Murdoch of Craigrownie Church in Cove appeared on John Beattie’s Radio Scotland programme on Wednesday, saying families as well as commuters had been hit when the sailings were cancelled.
“There are so many people complaining that SPT don’t even get back to us any more, so we don’t whether our complaints our going into a black hole or whether they’re actually being addressed or not and people are becoming incredibly frustrated,” she said.
“The Scottish Government have told us that they will take it over, but there always seems to be a good reason for a delay.”
She said Transport Scotland had taken over another small ferry service last year and appealed for Clydelink to release more information about the latest crisis so that people could make alternative plans, with public transport from Kilcreggan to Gourock now taking three hours rather than 12 minutes.
Clydelink has issued a series of tweets saying only that there have been technical problems; the latest was on Wednesday night, saying there would be an update later today (Friday).
Reading from this website’s recent list of problems since Clydelinks’s contract was renewed, John Beattie said: “It goes on and on. It’s not exactly rocket science is it, running a ferry?”
Jackie Baillie has written to SPT chair Martin Bartos, saying the contact should be transferred from Clydelink to Clyde Marine as soon as possible.
She said this week: ““Clydelink never cease to amaze me with the sheer level of incompetence. Maritime and Coastguard Agency inspectors have found so many faults with the Island Princess over the past year that it raises serious concerns over whether Clydelink is a fit and proper company to operate a passenger ferry service
“Now that SPT has already appointed a new operator, I see no reason why the start date cannot be brought forward.
“We cannot afford to wait until the end of June or passenger numbers will continue to plummet and there will be virtually no ferry service left for Clyde Marine to take over. SPT must act quickly to ensure that passengers are not left in the lurch without a service.”
The two statements are not contradictory, just the usual left hand not fully aware of the right hand’s intentions.
It is ridiculous how quiet ABC and Inverclyde Council have been about the service being provided by SPT and the ferry operator ,the way this service has been delivered both Councils should be more active to get it sorted ASP .
I would also suggest that if this problem was in Helensburgh it would be on the area committee agenda .
From what I have seen and read it looks like our MSP Jackie Baillie has been very active ,it’s time the councils did the same they help to fund SPT !!!
If rectification work is required to pass the annual survey then it is quite possible both statements are true.
At the same time I see no reason why SPT haven’t stepped in to at least provide a road based alternative, they have an existing framework agreement with bus and coach operators to enable contracts to be arranged, probably a lot more easily than Clydelink could do themselves.
Jackie Baillie has ‘serious concerns over whether Clydelink is a fit & proper company to operate a passenger ferry service’. Many of us had the same concerns six years ago! SPT is to blame for gross mismanagement of this contract and it is we, the ferry users who have had to pay the price.