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VisitArran has defended Caledonian MacBrayne after complaints about the lack of facilities at Brodick pier when the Ardrossan ferry was disrupted last week.
Hundreds of passengers and drivers had to find overnight accommodation on both sides of the water after the ferry failed to sail between Thursday afternoon until 5.30am on Saturday because of bad weather.
CalMac apologised for inconveniencing passengers and said it did its best in the circumstances.
Maureen McKenna, local co-ordinator for VisitArran, set up to promote the island as a top-class tourist destination, said: ‘Clearly there are instances where visitors’ expectations are failing to be met, however, rather then focus negatively on one individual company whose staff are asked to deal with extremely difficult circumstances during periods of disruption we should work positively together to raise service levels across the board.’
But angry Glasgow couple Thomas Sheldon and Marion O’Doherty were not convinced.
They booked the 1.45pm ferry last Thursday to go home after a three-day break, returning to the pier every two hours to check weather conditions.
They said information about the Lochranza crossing was not given and a lot of people were complaining.
Thomas said: ‘The staff there were nice enough but there was nowhere for us there to get a cup of coffee. We weren’t even told there was a ferry sailing from Lochranza. I was supposed to be at work today and tomorrow. No one has really told us anything about the weather and the forecast.
‘People were just huddled en masse because there was nowhere to go.’
A CalMac spokesman said every effort was made to keep customers informed and it was regrettable that some could not access the many channels of information available, and said that staff had been praised by customers for their efforts.
People were advised at Brodick that the Lochranza-Tarbert service was full and were directed to the local tourist information centre and restaurants with baby facilities.
More than 500 passengers had been carried off the island by 8.20am.
A report on a VisitArran open meeting last week to discuss such matters as pier facilities will be in next week’s Banner.
