Sailings on Caledonian MacBrayne’s Skye Triangle have been disrupted for the second time in the space of a week.
The service’s ferry, the MV Hebrides, has been withdrawn due to a reoccurrence of a problem with its CO2 firefighting system.
All sailings on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday between Uig on Skye, Lochmaddy on North Uist and Tarbert on Harris have been cancelled.
CalMac, external has issued an apology to customers and has advised them to travel via Lochboisdale-Mallaig or Stornoway-Ullapool.
It said additional sailings would also be run between Lochboisdale and Armadale.
But ferry operator warned space on these sailings was “extremely limited” because it was a time of peak summer demand.
Hebrides had only returned to service last Friday after repairs in Ullapool to the firefighting system.
CalMac said the ferry was now headed for a mainland yard for repairs and it would confirm an estimated timeframe for the work later.
Meantime, it has appealed for patience.
Head of operations Finlay MacRae said: “We recognise that this situation is very difficult and inconvenient for our customers, especially so soon after the most recent disruption, and we sincerely apologise to everyone affected and will do our best to find alternative options where these exist.
“While we know this process is time consuming and frustrating for customers, our staff are doing their very best to help and should not be subjected to aggression or violent behaviour.”
Islanders have expressed frustration at the situation.
Amanda Leveson-Gower, who has run a small hotel on North Uist for about 27 years, said the ferry service had been in decline for 10 years, but had got worse in the last four mainly due to the age of the ferry.
She said the disruption was damaging the island’s reputation as a tourist destination, with people having to sleep in their cars or travel from Skye to Inverness – a journey of almost 130 miles (209km) – to find overnight accommodation because the ferry had been cancelled.
She said: “People that have visited us nearly every year are now saying they cannot deal with the travelling.”
The hotelier said there were also huge problems for islanders, with people unable to travel to the mainland for funerals and weddings and crofters being denied the chance to get lambs to markets.
