CalMac are considering providing more staff to marshal queues to get on board the Cumbrae ferry after reported conflicts over the weekend involving drivers and buses.

Councillor Ian Murdoch criticised the state of the queue stretching back from the ferry terminal to Charles Street, with motorists facing hours of waiting.

Vehicles were also spotted jumping the queue, some inadvertently, after following the signage and not realising the long queues further back.

Cllr Murdoch says he wants to see CalMac provide more marshalling to eliminate queue concerns.

He added that a McGills bus got snarled up in the chaos after it couldn't park at its allocated bus stop and when it went to park outside the TocH hall.

CalMac has provided extra detail to explain why they suspended their service from 2.15pm for daytrippers on Sunday due to high demand.

Finlay MacRae, Head of Operations, said: “Due to extremely high demand for day returns from both vehicle and foot passengers on Sunday, day trip services were suspended as of 2pm.

"The service was also busier than usual due to a road race taking place on Cumbrae. If we had continued to sell day tickets, we would not have been able to guarantee enough capacity to transport customers back to the mainland.

"This decision was not taken lightly but was done to ensure that those already on the island would make it back to Largs on the same day. 

“The two vessels operating on this route do so constantly for 14 hours a day, with later services on a Friday night, which allows us to transport the maximum number of passengers during busy hours.

"They already operate with additional crew to allow this to happen, and operating for longer would require even more crew. 

“There is increasing demand from tourists wanting to visit Cumbrae and we work closely with local stakeholders to try to balance this with the needs of other customers, such as essential services and islanders.

"We understand how frustrating it is when passengers must queue at popular times, and we are aware of the issues caused by traffic queueing to board too.

"As well as encouraging visitors to leave their cars and travel on foot, we are also investigating the possibility of recruiting more staff to marshal traffic.” 

Cllr Murdoch also told the News that all these matters would be raised at the next tourism forum involving North Coast councillors at North Ayrshire Council to address the problems.