A CAR fire on a ferry has cause new disruption to lifeline island ferry services.
A fire took hold on Calmac Ferries' MV Isle of Lewis and forced the vessel to stop off at Tobermory on the Isle of Mull.
The ferry operator has confirmed that due to a vehicle fire on the car deck, services between Oban and Castlebay on Barra have been suspended for the time being.
Services between Tobermory on Mull and Kilchoan were also suspended as the vessel is assisting in what it called "an emergency situation".
It has now been confirmed that services between Mull and Kilchoan will resume at 6pm. CalMac said at around 5.30pm that the fire service had confirmed that MV Isle of Lewis was safe to proceed to Barra.
On Monday, ferry operator CalMac apologised after it was forced to bring in a relief vessel as another of its fleet broke down causing three days of cancellations to lifeline services to an inner Hebrides island over the weekend.
The ferry operator had to cancel all services to the island of Lismore from Saturday after the 35-year-old MV Loch Striven, which can carry ten cars and 200 passengers, hit trouble.
As the problem with the hull on what is the sixth oldest vessel in the fleet was being fixed, the operator looked to another oldie to come to the rescue. The 35-year-old relief vessel MV Loch Linnhe, which has been retired from daily duties, came in to restart services on Monday.
On Tuesday, CalMac confirmed that until further notice, MV Loch Linnhe would be unable to carry petrol and propane on the route as dangerous goods due to a "lack of segregation facilities".
They are the latest issue to hit Scotland's beleaguered island ferry network - with CalMac still counting counting the cost of how its biggest ferry, the eight-year-old MV Loch Seaforth broke down in April, causing disruption across the islands network for seven weeks.
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