A FERRY passenger has praised the ‘quick thinking’ of a Gourock CalMac crew who helped people to disembark safely when they encountered a linkspan issue in Dunoon earlier this week.
Andrew Wallace was on board the Argyll Flyer during the 6.20pm sailing from Gourock on Tuesday.
When the vessel arrived in Dunoon, one end of the linkspan – which is maintained by Argyll and Bute Council - was hanging down, preventing the ferry from berthing.
The crew decided to bring the route’s second vessel, MV Ali Cat, to Dunoon in order to get passengers on to dry land.
The Argyll Flyer used Ali Cat’s gangway to let the passengers off before returning to Gourock.
Mr Wallace told the Tele that the idea saved everyone a return ferry trip and a bus transfer to McInroy's Point.
He said: “They should be praised for quick thinking.
“The crew kept us informed and handed out water.
“They decided to best option was to bring the other boat with its mobile gangway to exit from the upper deck - a high tide was in our favour.
“They should be commended.”
Robbie Drummond, chief executive of CalMac, added: “The MV Argyll Flyer crew’s priority was the safety and wellbeing of passengers during this situation, which they handled quickly, professionally and with a great deal of care.
"I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to all of our staff involved.
“CalMac staff are highly trained to handle emergency situations such as this and will say that they are just doing their job.
"However, they regularly go above and beyond what is expected of them, so to receive praise like this from customers is extremely welcome.”
READ MORE: CalMac cancels all weekend Gourock-Dunoon sailings
Sailings on the route have been cancelled until Monday as repair work continues.
A spokesperson for Argyll and Bute Council said: “Engineers are onsite and investigating a technical fault with the linkspan.
“We will provide an update when we have more information.
“We apologise for any inconvenience.”
CalMac has been operating a shuttle bus service on both sides since Tuesday.
This will continue to run as close to timetable as possible over the weekend.
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