Corran Ferry out of action for 'several weeks'

The Corran Ferry has been pulled from service, remaining out of action for several weeks.

The route between the Ardnamurchan peninsula and Corran provides direct road access to Fort William.

A reduced service has been in operation since January while repair work is carried out on the main MV Corran.

However the relief vessel, the Maid of Glencoul, broke down on Friday. Highland Council said there could be no service for several weeks.

It is the busiest single-vessel ferry route in Scotland and carries more than 270,000 cars each year.

People living in Fort William, Ardgour, Sunart, Ardnamurchan, Moidart, Morar, Morvern and the Isle of Mull are among those who regularly use the ferry.

It is also used by visitors to the area.

Highland Council owns, funds, and operates the service.

It said the Maid of Glencoul was to be towed to a dry dock for repairs meaning the MV Corran could be back in operation first.

Journeys take roughly six minutes across the Corran Narrows.

With the second ferry out of use, drivers will be forced to follow a detour.

Drivers have been warned to expect more traffic on the A861 around Loch Linnhe and Fort William.

Highland Council said it would pursue temporary arrangements, such as a bus service, as soon as possible.

Cllr Ken Gowans said: "Staff are working over the Easter holidays to find ways to mitigate the immediate outage, but I can provide assurance that the council is currently exploring a range of measures to that will provide a long term sustainable solution as matter of urgency."

"We have been in discussion with Calmac who offered us additional engineering support and they are also helping where they can with spare parts but even with that repairs are likely to take some time to complete.

"We are working closely with our multi-agency partners at Police Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and Scottish Ambulance Service to manage the situation as best we can.

"We will issue updates as soon as we have them."