Angus MacNeil MP calls on Calmac to save island Wedding

Angus MacNeil MP has again been in touch with Calmac this morning regarding the unacceptable situation of the cancellation of all sailings between Oban and Castlebay on Friday and Saturday due to a technical fault with the MV Isle of Lewis.

Angus MacNeil said “It came to our attention late last night that the   Friday and Saturday sailings between Oban and Castlebay were to be cancelled in their entirety leaving Barra with no connections.

There is a big wedding on the Island this weekend so clearly this situation is not acceptable. It is very important that the MV Isle of Mull can serve Barra on Friday to get the wedding party and band to the island.  There are a lot of people coming to the wedding over and above the normal and very important tourist and business connections at this particularly busy time of year.

The best solution would be to deploy the MV Isle of Mull on the Barra run, and I know that Calmac are actively working on this and are looking for crew to enable this to happen. So I would appeal to all involved at Calmac to do their best to get a sailing from Oban to Castlebay today.

For Saturday, deploying the MV Lord of the Isles to run to Barra during the day has also been suggested locally as another possible solution.  This makes sense as sailing to Islands must be prioritised rather than sailing to ports that can be and are connected by road.

Calmac are working to resolve this issue but Island frustration is evidently huge given the time of year and the various pressures that people are feeling. Particularly for those involved in the Island wedding time is critical.”