And...….. he's off
You of you may have read in the newspapers, online and heard on the Scottish TV news that two new ferries which Transport Scotland previously advised would be ready for sailing on the Calmac routes by the end of 2018 will be over 12 months late in delivery.
The first ferry the MV Glen Sannox was due to start sailings on the Brodick to Ardrossan route in the second half of 2018 with the second ferry due to commence sailings on the Uig triangle several months later.
I am not surprised that there had been a delay in the completion of these ferries and they will be at least a year late in delivery as the result of a tip-off I received at the beginning of September 2017 almost a year ago.
The ferries are being constructed in the Ferguson Marine shipyard.
Last September whilst in the Royal Alexandra Hospital n Paisley for a routine operation which never happened due a near death experience a patient in my ward told me that the management of the Ferguson Marine shipyard were paying off local shipyard workers and replacing them with cheap labour from Eastern Europe who were bussed in for the start of their working day with buses ready to pick them at the end of their working day.
My Contact told me that he had a friend who complained to the management about local workers being paid off and replaced with cheap Eastern Europe labour. His friend was paid off at the end of that week.
After leaving the RAH and getting back to Islay I searched the Internet but I could find nothing about the latest going ons at the Ferguson Marine shipyard.
However I was not surprised as the bosses at Transport Scotland do not allow any bad news which concerns them to be published in the press.
In July 2016 the MV Hebridean Isles car ferry hit the pier at Kennacraig and it was out of action for almost two weeks causing chaos on the Islay to Kennacraig route at the busiest time of the year. Transport Scotland instigated a news blackout on this incident as the latest eight year ferry contract for sailings on the Clyde and Hebridean ferry routes awarded to the Scottish Government owned CalMac had not been signed.
The posters on the ‘other’ forum knew all about the MV Hebridean Isles ferry incident as I had posted the full information about the collision.
And...….. he's off
Occasionally the thread went off topic but I had sufficient knowledge to bring it back on to the Topic.
Last Autumn I was speaking to a reporter from the Oban Times about a Freedom of Information request I had made regarding another Islay Ferry problem and I told him how to find my topic on the other forum about the July 2016 Islay ferry crisis.
Several days later after reading all the posts at that time he contacted me and told me that he found the topic very informative and it contained information that he was unaware of.