Community / NorthLink says ‘appropriate travel sanctions’ have been imposed following unsocial behaviour incident
“TRAVEL sanctions” have been imposed on a group of people who caused serious disruption in a NorthLink pod lounge last month.
Mari Anderson told Shetland News last month she would never use the ferries’ pod lounges again after a fight erupted during a sailing on 17 September.
Neither her or her boyfriend could initially find staff to deal with those causing the disruption, who were described as being drunk, and complained to NorthLink about their experience the following day.
Anderson described the whole episode as “absolutely insane”, and called on NorthLink to improve the security aboard its ferries.
‘It was absolutely insane’ – woman pledges to avoid pod lounges after all-night ordeal
NorthLink chief Stuart Garrett responded to her in the aftermath of the incident, personally apologising for her experience.
He said he had asked for “a full report” into the event from his staff, and added they had “already identified the individuals concerned”.
“You have my assurance that further action will be taken in that regard,” Garrett told Anderson last month.
NorthLink has now said that it has spoken “directly” to all of the people involved, and that those who caused the disruption have had “appropriate travel sanctions” put in place.
It did not say what those sanctions were.
“NorthLink Ferries does not tolerate disruptive or antisocial behaviour of any kind, and we have clear policies and procedures in place for dealing with any disruptive behaviour onboard our vessels,” the company added.
“We would again apologise to the passengers who were impacted by this incident and hope that this action reassures them that we take complaints of this nature seriously.”
Anderson complained after repeated attempts by NorthLink staff to kick out the offending group failed, meaning passengers were forced to put up with the disruption all night.
“I didn’t feel safe because you had this group of men who had been acting violently still in the room,” she said.
“Everybody was on edge.”
NorthLink said last month the safety of its passengers and staff was its “absolute priority”.
“We have protocols in place for dealing with this type of situation and the team did intervene on more than one occasion to reduce disruption for our passengers onboard,” it added.
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