A WOMAN'S internet rant at the state-owned ferry company Caledonian MacBrayne after she claimed it has let her down over a lifetime has attracted the backing of thousands of people.

Doctor Morna Piper logged onto Facebook to inform the world how she has had enough after a lifetime of being let down by the state-owned ferry company Caledonian MacBrayne.

The mother of two, from Edinburgh, wrote the open letter to CalMac's bosses an open letter on Facebook to complain about the way she has been treated by the company since she grew up on Colonsay.

Within hours, her rant had been viewed almost 8,000 times and attracted 1,400 "likes" or positive support.

Mrs Piper, 34, regularly uses the Colonsay to Oban service to visit family and friends on the island which has a population of only 130.

She claimed to have endured frequent cancellations, disruptions and technical faults.

Mrs Piper said the glitches had affected all the important occasions in her life, from family funerals, to weddings and holidays.

She states: "You don't know me CalMac but I know you, all too well. You see, over the last 34 years you appear

to have made it your mission to ruin my life."

She said CalMac has left travellers stranded, by diverting the ferry, without warning and dropping weary families off late at night, at ports many miles away from the ones they had booked to travel to.

She wrote: "Let's talk about the time you sailed to within shouting distance of Colonsay, before deciding that actually you wouldn't even attempt to get into the pier.

"It would have been nice if you'd taken me back to Oban though, instead of depositing me, my husband and our two small children in (Islay's) Port Askaig at 10pm on a Saturday evening, with nowhere to stay.

"It would have been nice if you had helped us to find the incredibly expensive hotel we had to book into, maybe got us a discount, or even offered to pay.

"It would have been nice if you hadn't taken us to Kennacraig the next morning and left us to make our own way back to Oban."

Criticising the company for leaving mourners on another occasion worrying whether they would make it to an island funeral she continued: "My great aunt died and there were 50 people waiting at the pier in Oban for a boat that might or might not take us to the funeral. It was amazing when the mysterious 'technical fault' reared its head.

"We stood around in the freezing cold whilst a diver splashed around in the water.

"Meanwhile two boats came and went taking passengers to the other, more important islands while my father wondered if he could postpone the

funeral any further."

Challenging whether CalMac's aging fleet is fit for purpose, Mrs Piper said: "This is a heavily subsidised service for which you tendered. You said you could provide this service and you lied.

"Let's talk about how important tourism is to Colonsay, how short our tourist season is and how we can't afford to p*** people off by leaving them stranded."

Martin Dorchester, Managing Director of CalMac, said they were genuinely sorry whenever ferries were cancelled, adding: "The majority of our crew members and staff, nearly 1000 people, come from the area we serve and they know from personal experience the implications of cancellations on families and businesses."

He added that over the past year, only 535 sailings, (0.4 per cent) were cancelled for technical reasons. Bad weather accounted for 4276 sailings being scrapped.

A spokesman for the government agency Transport Scotland said:

A Transport Scotland spokesman said: "CalMac attempts to manage disruptions, such as difficult weather conditions and unforeseen technical issues, to try and ensure all island communities continue to receive a service at all times.

"This is an example of the challenges CalMac deals with in delivering a range of services across the entire network.