Letters / ‘It’s not a cruise ship, it’s an essential service’
To Scottish transport minister Jenny Gilruth:
I want to reiterate what you have already been informed of with regard to the unacceptable level of service that Islanders must endure from NorthLink.
For years, this service has not supplied a service which meets a lifeline and I repeat, lifeline service, for the Northern Isles.
Travellers have been deprived of basic human rights. This is due to not enough berths.
For years, the old, the ill, the young have, in the busier months, find themselves either sitting for 12 hours, often in very rough seas, on a chair or in a pod.
Very, very uncomfortable. Many passengers need to lie horizontally to help quell being very seasick. Many travellers end up lying on the floor. Elderly and young alike. Unacceptable.
Covid has produced a set up in which NorthLink make us pay not for one bunk, or berth, but for the entire cabin. The cost is prohibitive. Islanders receive two return trips for one berth each year. Many of us have to travel much more often due to family commitments.
You yourself need to do a return trip in rough seas, sitting in a pod or chair for 12 hours.
See how you feel in the morning. It is shattering. Travellers then have to go on to travel, go to hospital, go on to compete etc. Utterly drained……. Appalling service.
Stewart Garrett [NorthLink managing director] is now trying to say…that we do not want to share with in between genders. Not so. We WILL. share. We want a bed!!!!!!!!!!
Freight is also useless. Businesses are being stifled.
We can’t get our cars booked on. No space for weeks in summer.
This is NOT a cruise ship. It is an essential service. In reality it is a shambles, and an utter insult to our human rights.
It is long, long overdue for Transport Scotland to sort this mess out.
Lastly, be aware, that Islanders have little faith in the Scottish Government. We know that our needs are at the bottom of the list.
Remember votes matter as time goes on.
Heather Butler
Lerwick
