Calmac paid £ 460,000 for delayed hawker passengers

Calmac has paid more than £ 460,000 in compensation to passengers due to delay and cancellation of their services since April last year.

The state-owned ferry operator paid £ 432,735 to passengers in 2024-25, paying £ 33,792 in May and June this year.

This marks an increase of 37% on compensation payments in 2023-24, but slightly fall from 2022–23, when the operator paid £ 454,000 to delay passengers, according to data received by the Scottish Liberal Democrats.

A Transport Scotland spokesperson said that more than 5% of the sailors on the network were canceled in the last 10 years.

Lib Dame Transport spokesman, Jamie Green, accused the Scottish government of “deteriorating the ferry network”.

He pointed to issues of reliability within the Calmac fleet and delayed new ships going to service.

Glennx FerryPort Glasgow Shipyard was distributed by Ferguson Marine for years and in the budget for years.

Its sister Ship, Glen Rosa, will now be Will not be distributed until the beginning of next year Due to a series of delays.

Meanwhile, MV Caledonian Islands, which has not come out since January last year, Can be out of action for another four months To go through further repairs.

Lib Dames has launched a consultation on the future of the country’s boating services.

Green, who represented the West Scotland region, said that staff and passengers were “late down” by the management of SNP’s network

He said: “The SNP government took control of the company and broke its promise to give new ghats on time and budget, so that we will now reduce the bills for compensation and repair.

“All this has created a serious new criteria for my components with West Coast, which ranks from losing business to the appointments of the missing hospital.”

The data obtained by Lib Dames through the Freedom of Information Request revealed that more than 7,000 compensation claims were filed by passengers in a two -year period between April 2023 and April 2025.

The operator has paid a total of £ 1.9m in compensation since 2017-18 financial year.

Calmac said it expects to welcome additional 13 ships in its fleet by 2029.

It said, when delay and cancellation, the employees worked to find alternative routes or sailors for the passengers.

A spokesman said: “We are operating more sailors than ever, many of our ships extend to their limits.

“It is no secret that our fleet is aging and can lead to high levels of technical problems.

“This is why we are eager to welcome 13 new ships in the Calmac fleet by 2029, which will provide more reliable service to passengers, which will lead to less technical problems.”

A spokesman from Transport Scotland stated that they would “be able to work in more challenging sea and weather conditions”.

He said: “Between January 2015 and June 2025, Calmac has operated more than 1.6 million sailors, of which only 5.5% of the scheduled sailors have been canceled. Of those canceled sailors, 25% were for technical reasons, while more than double the weather was at 60%.

“In the coming year, the Scottish government has intended to maintain and invested more than £ 530m to maintain and enhance our network and strengthen the flexibility of services on the West Coast and Northern Islands.

“It represents a 23% increase at 24–25 funding levels.”