Sickness absence to affect Bressay ferry service this week

SHETLAND Islands Council is continuing to struggle to provide a full inter-island ferry service.

Following a week of disruptions on Yell Sound, the service to Bressay is set to be affected by cancellations this week.

Due to staff sickness the Bressay ferry will stop operating at 8pm tonight (Tuesday).

There will also be no service across Bressay Sound during the day Wednesday to Sunday.

The council announced this morning that a normal timetable on Bressay Sound will operate from 7.30am to 11am (10.45am on Sunday) and again from 5pm to 10pm Wednesday (27 July) to Sunday (31 July).

The bus service 42 which operates on a dial-a-ride basis from the Bressay ferry terminal on Wednesdays and Fridays at 1.08pm will not operate on 27 and 29 July.

Ferries manager Andrew Inkster said that emergency cover would be maintained throughout this period.

“We are continuing to see problems in our ferries due to staff sickness, and we fully appreciate how disruptive this will be to the travelling public,” he said.

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“We’re having difficulty locating appropriately skilled cover at a time when Covid continues to have an impact on staffing levels across the service, and when colleagues are taking advantage of the opportunity to have some much-needed leave.

“We expect the service to return to normal on Monday 1 August. We’d ask residents and visitors for their patience in the meantime.”