From the Press & Journal
Plane’s wasted trip because pupils not told of arrival
unscheduled flight to Colonsay returned empty because no one knew it was coming
Published: 05/11/2008
A council sent a subsidised plane on a wasted journey to the Hebrides after failing to tell its intended passengers when it was to arrive.
The flight went to Colonsay, before returning to Oban Airport empty.
It was sent by Argyll and Bute Council with the intention of collecting island pupils who attend Oban High School, who had been home for the October holidays. But the council did not tell parents, or pupils, about the unscheduled flight.
The cancellation of a scholar flight to pick up children from Coll, because there were no takers, saw untimetabled arrangements made to run the one-off extra flight to Colonsay.
But Colonsay parent Seumas McNeill, whose daughter Caitlin, 15, and son Liam, 12, attend Oban High School, said: “We got a phone call about 3pm on the Sunday from the guy who works at the airport asking if we knew about a plane that had been organised to pick up our kids, and we said we didn’t.
“He said the plane was on its way, but I have a print-out of when to be expecting our children to go backwards and forwards on the plane and it isn't due until this Saturday morning.
“It only takes 20 minutes to get to the island, so there was no way we could get the children organised. My son was expecting to go back to Oban on the ferry the next day.”
He said the parents of the other three high school children who were home on the island at the time had been in the same position and the plane was sent back to Oban empty.
Mr McNeill said Colonsay was not getting a fair deal as the 20 high school children living on Coll get three return school flights a month, whereas Colonsay's seven pupils get only one.
Councillor Robin Currie, who represents Colonsay, said: “I think it's stupidity to send a plane out empty. If there is nobody actually booked on a plane it shouldn't go.”
A spokeswoman for Argyll and Bute Council said: “There was a misunderstanding and measures will be put in place to ensure that this does not happen again.
“The scholar flights have been very successful since they started three months ago.
“And the council remains committed to ensuring that children from Coll and Colonsay who attend Oban High School can continue to use this service and travel home more frequently during term time.”