Yell Sound ferry disruption set to continue until weekend

THE CHAIRPERSON of the council’s environment and transport committee has apologised for the continued disruption on the Yell Sound ferry service after it emerged that all evening sailings will be cancelled until the weekend.

Moraig Lyall said that due to continued staff absence because of sickness the ferries serving Yell Sound will for the next three days tie up after the 6.30pm departure from Ulsta and the 6.55pm service from Toft.

Yesterday (Tuesday) evening sailings were also cancelled.

Lyall said: “I know how dismaying and disruptive this will be, especially to island residents, and our officers have been working hard to try to find an alternative approach.

“However, at the moment on this route we simply do not have any available staff who are appropriately qualified to stand in for sick colleagues, and passenger and crew safety has to be our principal priority.

“We expect the service to return to normal at the weekend.  I want to acknowledge the patience shown by the travelling public and thank our staff who are working very hard in difficult circumstances.”