Published: Wednesday, 1st July, 2009 12:48pm

CalMac, CMal and the Waverley

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I read with dismay, but sadly with no sense of surprise, at your recently reported failure of CMAL, Caledonian MacBrayne"s associated company, to deliver on their promises to the Waverley Steam Navigation Company Ltd and its many disappointed passengers.

As part of a much publicised public relations exercise by Caledonian MacBrayne, firm assurances were given, throughout the planning of the Largs Pier works, that access for Waverley would be maintained at all times, and 'special arrangements' would be made for her calls at the pier in June and early July. These were announced in press releases by CMAL"s spokesperson Lorna Spencer, repeated by her at public consultation meetings, and reported in your columns. In view of all this I find it completely unacceptable that these firm pledges should now be so unthinkingly cast aside.

This will come as no surprise, however, to anyone who studies Caledonian MacBrayne"s modus operandi. This present debacle, plus the previous and ongoing debates about public access to the pier, reveal their much vaunted 'public consultation' exercise - 'Meet the Engineers' and the like - to be a complete sham, and mere tokenistic window dressing. That our Community Council chose to accept their verbal assurances of future public access to the pier is extremely regrettable, and is likely, when the time comes, to be similarly disregarded.

Can I suggest that any of your readers who find this situation as deplorable as I do, should write as soon as possible, as I have just done, to our MSP, Kenneth Gibson, inviting him to raise this with the Minister responsible (Stewart Stevenson, MSP, Minister for Transport, asking him to bring all pressure to bear on CMAL to deliver on their promises, and to ensure immediate access to the pier - OUR pier - for Waverely"s sailings throughout the entire months of July and August.

Alan Johnson.

19 Charles Street, Largs