CUMBRAE community councillors have called for an end to cleaning breaks on the ferry service between the island and Largs.

They say queues in the last few months are being made worse by the stops to wipe down the interior of the boats in a bid to help protect passengers against Covid-19 transmission.

Island representatives say that the procedures are not supported by science - but CalMac insists it will continue to follow 'official advice'.

Community councillor Sharon Hagan says cleaning should be carried out 'on the move', similar to other transport companies.

She said: “The delays at the terminals are causing a lot of issues and traffic build up.

“I don’t understand why they can’t clean them on the move, it is such a simple thing to do and would save so many problems.

“No other transport company is stopping the way that CalMac is. I totally understand having coronavirus prevention measures, but there must be a better solution.”

Fellow community councillor Charlie Shaw believes the science doesn’t support the type of cleaning that the ferry operator is carrying out.

He explained: “I don’t use the ferries as often as I used to, but from what I’ve seen the cleaning breaks are really cursory where staff walk on and rub their cloth on all the surfaces.

“What CalMac is not taking account of is recent scientific evidence, that solid surfaces are a very limited way of spreading the virus.

“The virus is mostly spread through the air, so in reality CalMac could do away with the cleaning breaks if they looked at the scientific evidence.”

Councillor Ian Murdoch however believes the measures should remain in place.

He said: “CalMac has a set programme and they need to stick to it.

“You could potentially end up with an outbreak, similar to what happened on the Arran ferry that resulted in the whole service being cancelled, so cleaning is vitally important no matter how the virus spreads.

“We need to do everything we can to keep people safe.”

Fellow councillor Tom Marshall has backed island representatives, but believes CalMac will not change its policy.

He said: “Everything that has been said about cleaning breaks and about the scientific evidence is quite right.

“It has been discussed at the Ferry Users' Group and CalMac said they would investigate further options, but I don’t think anything will come of it.”

Louis de Wolff is the director of health, safety, quality and environment for CalMac.

He said: “Covid cases remain high in Scotland and we are continuing to follow official advice with regards to regular cleaning.

“We use weekly data provided by Public Health Scotland to work out how often cleaning should be carried out.”