A ferry that is 23 years past its 'sell-by date' has become the seventh to break down in a matter of days in a deepening crisis over lifeline Scots services.

Users were hit with queues of three hours at Largs to the popular tourist island of Great Cumbrae on Tuesday in the latest wave of breakdowns to hit services to and from islands off the west coast of Scotland.

The loss of the 48-year-old MV Isle of Cumbrae meant the already depleted service to Great Cumbrae and Millport was cut even further and has been having to rely on one vessel.

Also put out of action on Monday was 35-year-old MV Lord of the Isles after it was found that the main engine needed repairs meaning services cancelled to and from South Uist, which has been among the worst affected by service cuts and led to major protests on he island last summer.

Yesterday all sailings to and from the island's main port Lochboisdale were suspended with an ongoing issue with the stabiliser system a factor along with an adverse weather forecast.

The seven that have broken down in the past week are on top of two MV Caledonian Isles and Mv Loch Shira that have been out of action long-term.

Repairs to the the Cumbrae ferry's ramp was being carried out on Monday and was continuing on Tuesday.

Services to and from Tobermory on the Isle of Mull have become passenger only from Saturday till Friday - as state-owned CalMac has to rely on a specially chartered emergency vessel.

Problems with MV Loch Tarbert has meant it has has to be replaced by 38-year-old MV Loch Linnhe on the service to Tobermory. But the MV Loch Linnhe was departing for an annual overhaul Saturday.

While users on the Great Cumbrae have been appealing for better services because of breakdowns, the service to Millport on Cumbrae is having to rely on a ferry that is 23 years past its normal working life after one of its usual vessels was crippled.

It has been confirmed that one of the oldest in the fleet 39-year-old MV Hebridean Isles which broke own on Thursday before being brought back into service later, will be retired from action in November.

CalMac said 39-year-old MV Hebridean Isles if it were to be retained would need a "significant programme of work" that would keep her out of service for months.

The 33-year-old ferry MV Loch Fyne which has been serving Cumbrae was put out of action after damaging a propulsion unit and ferry users have been told that it is not repairable in the short term.

Seventeen-year-old MV Loch Shira, which has been running services to the island continues to be sidelined but was expected back on Wednesday.

CalMac had been forced to remove Loch Shira from one of its busiest routes on April 5 due to it being damaged by heavy vehicles and was originally expected to be sidelined till mid June at the earliest.

The popular tourist island has had to rely on MV Isle of Cumbrae as the supporting second vessel on Great Cumbrae service, which is one of CalMac busiest. It is working alongside MV Loch Tarbert.

Isle of Cumbrae can take 18 cars - but that is half the number that the normal vessel Loch Shira could accommodate, meaning a drastic cut in capacity.

MV Isle of Cumbrae removed from the Millport service in May when it broke down.

Now having been forced back into action issues with its ramp emerged on Monday and was sidelined or repairs.

It was due to return to service at 6.15pm on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, MV Caledonian Isles, one of Scotland's oldest and biggest ferries, remains sidelined until at least late August after CalMac was landed with a £5m repair bill over rust.

The ferry operator had warned in February of disruption across the Clyde and Hebrides network as a result of steelwork issues with the 31-year-old MV Caledonian Isles which serves on the Arran route.

It has been out of action since going for an overhaul at the start of January and it had been hoped in the last update that it would be back by July to help with the busy summer period.

The continuing issues with the ageing fleet have meant that the summer only service from Ardrossan to Campbeltown was scrapped for a second year.

The Campbeltown summer service never started last year as it became a casualty of further breakdowns.

A ferry user group official said it was a "travesty" that CalMac was forced to rely on a ferry "that should be scrapped" and the fact that even that has been having problems "shows the depths of the crisis that is hitting travellers, locals and businesses alike".

"The fact that there seems to be a ferry going down almost every day is alarming enough, the fact we are relying on a ferry that is two years away from a half century on the waters is unforgiveable, but the responses from government dealing with these immediate problems are truly horrific.

"I can almost predict that when you report on this you will get a flim flam response that will just be further repetition of how they are delivering ferries by 2026 that pays little regard to the demands of the here and now.

"How can anyone in authority think that this state of affairs does not deserve urgent action immediately rather than providing the sickening spin about what is being delivered in the future that should have been the result of investment years ago."

Some 18 of CalMac's 31 working ferries that were in service in 2021 and deployed across Scotland are now over 25 years old.

MV Isle of Arran which, is among those that have hit problems in he past week usually serves as the second Arran ferry in the summer. It is second only to Isle of Cumbrae in a list of CalMac's oldest ferries.

The others that are over 25 years old are Hebridean Isles (39) Loch Linnhe (38), Loch Riddon (38) Loch Striven (33), Loch Ranza (37), Isle of Mull (36), Lord of the Isles (35), Loch Dunvegan (33), Loch Fyne (33) Loch Buie (32), Loch Tarbert (32) Caledonian Isles (31), Isle of Lewis (29) and Loch Bhrusda, which was completed in May 1996.

After 1973, when the Caledonian Steam Packet Co. acquired most of the ferries and routes and began joint Clyde and West Highland operations under the new name of Caledonian MacBrayne, the official expected life of a ferry had been 20 years.

That is until 2002, three years after the 1999 devolution when the then Scottish Government-owned Caledonian MacBrayne which then controlled the fleet and procured vessels, extended the 'working life' from 20 years to 25 years.

Scottish Government-owned ferry owners and procurers Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd which took control of the ownership of the ferry network and the purchase of new vessels in 2006, has since moved the 'expected useful life' from up to a maximum of 25 years to 35 years.

New ferries Glen Sannox and sister ship Glen Rosa being built at state-owned Ferguson Marine in Inverclyde, which were due online in the first half of 2018, with both now due to serve Arran, are at least six years late, with costs expected to be quadruple the original £97m contract.

Transport Scotland repeated previous statements about the crisis, saying: "We recognise the impact that delays and disruption have regrettably had on our island communities and this government is committed to investing in our ferry services. That is why delivering six new major vessels to serve Scotland’s ferry network by 2026 is a priority for this government. We have also started the procurement process for seven new smaller vessels as part of phase one of the Small Vessel Replacement Plan.

“We continue to work with operators and CMAL [the state-owned ferry and ports owner Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited] to improve resilience across our networks.”

A CalMac spokeswoman said: “Several of our services have been operating under challenging circumstances due to various issues and increased demand across our fleet. Our crews and staff are doing everything they can to support communities during this time.

“Looking ahead, we will soon welcome six major new vessels to the service, which will allow us to improve resilience. Two of these vessels are due to join our fleet later this year, and until then we will do all we can to provide island communities with a reliable service.”