THE MV Isle of Arran is set to continue as the main ferry between Ardrossan and Brodick for the winter season, CalMac has confirmed.

The ageing vessel, which took over the route at the start of the year, will continue to serve Scotland's busiest ferry route.

CalMac's winter timetables were thrown into disarray after the MV Caledonian Isles was ruled out of action until the end of March 2025.

The main ferry on the Brodick route for years, the Caley Isles went in for its annual service last January... and never made it back.

Major repairs were needed and the vessel spent 10 months in dry dock - only to suffer a gearbox issue during sea trials between Ardrossan and Arran.

It had to go back for repairs in dry dock on October 23.

CalMac said today: "As a result of delays with MV Caledonian Isles returning to service, MV Isle of Arran will continue to operate on this route for the remainder of the winter timetable."

Responding to the announcement, West Scotland Conservative MSP Jamie Greene said: “CalMac’s updated winter timetable shows us just how urgently new vessels are needed to provide extra capacity on the network.

“It is clear that CalMac has done the upmost in its engagement with coastal and island communities who are impacted by timetabling changes, but the timetable is a precarious balancing act.

“Any vessel breakdown or technical disruption over the winter will upset that balance and throw the network into chaos.

“Only the delivery of new vessels to the network will ease this pressure, which is particularly high on the Arran route this winter due to the absence of the Caledonian Isles.

“We still don’t have a delivery date for the Glen Sannox, with the last update from the shipyard received over a month ago.

“The Scottish Government told islanders that they would have delivered their new vessels long ago - of course, they are nowhere to be seen.”