Islanders living in one of Scotland's most remote communities are demanding £33,000 in compensation for every day they are without a winter ferry service.

Colonsay is normally served by three sailings a week from Oban and one from Kennacraig, via Islay, on a Saturday.

They were told by CalMac that they would lose five Monday services over the winter months, for the second year running, which equates to a 25% reduction in services over 21 weeks.

As the ferries have not been timetabled residents say they are not entitled to compensation from the ferry operator.

CalMac says the service losses are unavoidable due to having a single vessel, the Loch Frisa, on the Mull run while the Isle of Mull is redeployed or in dry dock.

The Hebridean isle at one point had two flights a week to Oban, funded by Argyll and Bute Council but this was cut to one two years ago.

The Herald: Colonsay residents say they are poorly served by ferry and air transport Colonsay residents say they are poorly served by ferry and air transport (Image: Getty)

David Hobhouse, chairman of the Colonsay Lifeline Transport Group, has written to Transport Minister Fiona Hyslop to demand a community package of £33,000 for the "financial, reputational and emotional damage done to our community."

He writes: "I am writing to you directly as we seem to have run out of other options.

"If no other ferry service can be found, we would use the compensation initially to fund relief charter flights, possibly more than one a day on these Mondays, to accommodate passengers and possibly some essential food supplies, as a Monday is a key day in this regard.

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"The rest of the compensation we would look to use to supplement our PSO (Public Service Order) flights that have in recent years been reduced to only one proper flight day a week. 

"The flight is the only way of getting to the mainland and back on the same day, and used to give us some connectivity with the mainland every weekday during the winter period. 

"It did, and would again, totally change the perception of isolation that we as islanders feel. 

"The situation is madness when the infrastructure for flights is all in place, and paid for but Argyll and Bute council can't afford to fund a proper service, as they tell us that their grant from Transport Scotland has not been increased, though TS direct funded PSO’s have been, to reflect the rise in costs."

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He said the £33,000 figure was the equivalent of the daily hire fee for the MV Albert, a catamaran ferry owned by Pentland Ferries, currently chartered to CalMac for nine months as a contingency measure.

He said the ferry is unable to dock in some of West Coast harbours including Oban so would be unable to serve Colonsay but said the group had come up with an alternative plan which could free up one of the ferries used to serve the Isle of Arran.

He said: "Three days of the Alfred hire fee would give us enough money to restore our full flight schedule for the whole year.

"That rather puts into perspective how little we would need to make a real difference to life here.

"Going forward any new “ferry” contract has to recognise that an air service or charter can be a very useful and practical addition to our lifeline service provision, and often a more cost-effective and environmentally less damaging one, though only as a supplement, not as a direct replacement to the ferry."

A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “We have received Colonsay Lifeline Transport Group’s letter and will respond in due course.

“In relation to ferry services to Colonsay, under the current contract the operator is obliged to deploy vessels as necessary to provide lifeline services to island communities and if required are able to charter vessels from a third parties to meet their contractual obligations. 

"While there is no provision in the contract to instruct them to consider alternative modes of transport, looking to future contracts is an option that can be considered.

“The provision of supported air services within Argyll & Bute is rightly a matter for the council which receives funding from the Scottish Government through the Local Government Settlement and allows them the financial freedom to support local air transport needs as they see fit.”