THE Ardrossan to Arran ferry is off again - after the route's relief vessel suffered a leak from her exhaust system into the engine rooms.

It is the latest in a series of disasters for Arran residents, who have been left without normal ferry services for months.

Coaches were organised to take foot passengers from Ardrossan to Claonaig in Kintyre to catch the island's second ferry service to Lochranza.

A CalMac spokesperson revealed on Thursday afternoon: "We regret to announce that MV Isle of Arran had to be removed from service this afternoon for safety reasons, whilst repairs to an engine exhaust leak are attended to in Ardrossan.

"This leak resulted in gases entering the engine room and therefore the vessel must be removed from service for safety reasons.

"The last sailing today will be the 1355 from Brodick, which was delayed until 1500 to enable as many foot passengers as possible to make their way to the vessel.

"Once in Ardrossan, and supported by shore-based engineers, work will commence to repair the exhaust and it is our aim to provide an update at 2200 this evening.

"As a precaution, all sailings tomorrow have been placed on alert.

"Coaches are being arranged to carry foot passengers from Ardrossan to Claonaig, departing at 1530. The same coaches will return to Ardrossan with foot passengers from Claonaig.

"MV Catriona will operate an additional return sailing Lochranza-Claonaig this evening if required.

"Our technical teams aboard and ashore will work to return the vessel to service as quickly as possible."

The MV Isle of Arran - which was launched in 1983 and is the oldest large vessel in the CalMac fleet - has been providing relief cover on the route for three months.

The normal Ardrossan-Brodick vessel, MV Caledonian Isles, was taken out of service in early January for its annual overhaul - but significant problems, including damage to both engines, mean the larger ship still hasn't returned to service.

The 'Caley Isles' was in dry dock for nearly a month, with more than £1m of work carried out, including engine servicing.

The much smaller, and much older, MV Isle of Arran, has provided the island’s main ferry link for most of the last three months on its own.

CalMac originally provided a two-vessel relief service for the Caledonian Isles’ overhaul period in January, also using the MV Hebridean Isles - before the latter vessel, too, was forced out of service with its own technical troubles.

"The disruption has cut the number of vehicle spaces available on the route by almost half."

West of Scotland Conservative MSP Jamie Greene said: “Reports that the MV Isle of Arran has been removed from service for repairs will be concerning for many residents but, sadly, this development won’t come as a surprise.

“Our aging ferry network continues to let down passengers at every turn and all the while the SNP Government are preoccupied with infighting and division.

“The new ferries promised more than a decade ago are still nowhere to be seen and the First Minister appears to be missing in action. It’s simply not good enough.”