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Professor John Robertson OBA

BBC Scotland today have a report today based on a Freedom of Information request, by the Lib Dems:

The state-owned ferry operator paid £432,735 in compensation to travellers in 2024-25. It marks a 37% rise on compensation payments in 2023-24, but a slight fall from 2022-23, when the operator paid £454,000 to delayed passengers, according to figures obtained by the Scottish Liberal Democrats.

The total Scottish Government subsidy for CalMac is £370 million:

https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases/referral-of-the-proposed-subsidy-to-calmac-ferries-limited-by-transport-scotland

CalMac operates 36 ferries.A further 5 vessels are currently under construction for the fleet. The company serves over 50 ports and harbours on the west coast of Scotland, with CMAL owning 16 of these ports and harbours. Caledonian MacBrayne operate on average over 162,700 sailings annually, carrying an estimated 5,309,771 passengers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caledonian_MacBrayne

So, quickly, some perspective.

1. The amount in 2025, as they note themselves, is down on two years ago. There is no upward trend.
2. £432 735 is only 0.1% of the total subsidy of £370 million
3. The compensation level is, on average, £2.65 per sailing with hundreds of passengers and vehicles on board.
4. The compensation level is, on average, only 8p per passenger.

Have the Lib Dems tried this before? They have, in July 2025:

Here we have another of those Freedom of Information requests by the opposition parties stored up to try to maintain the SNPbad narrative through the holidays.

You’ve already seen the Tory ones on ambulance and fire statistics. Here we have the Lib Dems reporting:

More than 10,000 ferry sailings cancelled due to faults – Freedom of information data obtained by the Scottish Lib Dems showed 10,809 sailings were cancelled since January 2023. Lib Dem MSP Jamie Greene said: “These figures reveal just how much chaos the SNP are causing island communities.

“Our island communities are being treated as second-class citizens, lacking the basic right to access the same public services as mainland Scots.

Why did they add up the data for January 2023 to January 2025 and then top up with the February to end April data? To get the more than 10 000 headline, of course.

Is 10 809 a lot of cancellations? At face value, many will be impressed but, CalMac average 162 700 sailing per year, 325 000 in those two years plus another 40 000 for February to April 2025, giving a total of 365 000.

10 809 is thus only 2.9% of sailings cancelled due to repairs – 97.1% reliability!