Passenger Rights

Guide to Sailing Disruption and Passenger Rights Claims

Find out what you may be entitled to in the event of a disruption or cancellation to your sailing before you complete a claim form.

• Snacks, meals or refreshments

• Overnight accommodation

• Additional mileage incurred

• Compensation 

• Claim exclusions

Passenger Rights Claim Form

If you wish to make a claim, complete our online Passenger Rights Claim Form within 2 months of the date of the disrupted journey. If you are unable to complete the form online, please contact us on 0800 066 5000 or +44 1475 650 397 (for International customers) for assistance.

Please note - This claim form should not be completed if your sailing has been disrupted or cancelled and you require a refund only. Please contact our Customer Engagement Centre to request your refund. 

As part of our commitment to customer care, we are pleased to advise the following:

When our service is disrupted we will tell you as soon as we can and no later than 30 minutes after the ship should have sailed. We will advise of the expected departure time as soon as we know. Please note that this may not be possible at unmanned ports.

Where possible, we will provide information to assist you in making other travel arrangements if you miss a connecting service.

If we expect your sailing to be cancelled, or delayed departing by more than 90 minutes, you can choose:

• where practicable, to travel on the next available sailing on the same or an alternative route on the CalMac network for the same ticket price.

or

• to cancel your journey and to receive a refund of the cost of the appropriate ticket price. Where relevant, we will provide a complimentary journey on the first available sailing back to the first point of departure on that part of your journey. The refund will be paid within 7 days of the disrupted journey.

You do not need to accept the re-routed journey if offered the opportunity, but if you decline an offer to be re-routed and choose instead to wait until the service resumes you will be liable for any costs you then incur.

Commercial Vehicle/Coach - Passengers travelling in a vehicle for which a commercial vehicle/coach ticket has been issued, are not entitled to be re-routed for the same ticket price, as these transactions are outside the provision of The Merchant Shipping (Passengers' Rights) (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.

*Passengers are advised to consider insuring themselves against consequential costs which may be incurred through delays, cancellations, etc. 

Snacks, meals or refreshments

If your sailing is cancelled or delayed, for any reason, by more than 90 minutes we will provide where available, non alcoholic drinks, snacks or meals.

• Where there are no facilities available at the port you will be asked to buy your own non-alcoholic drinks, snacks or meals.

• Coach/tour operators should make their own arrangements for their clients and then contact the Customer Team at Gourock to request reimbursement.

• Port and ship's staff cannot reimburse you for these costs.

• We will reimburse food and drink costs, as detailed within this document, when the following are sent to the Customer Team at Gourock within 2 months of the date of the disrupted journey:

  • original food and drink receipts

  • your ticket purchase receipt confirming intention to travel

  • a valid completed claim form.

If your sailing is cancelled or delayed by more than 90 minutes we will provide, where available, snacks, meals or refreshments as follows:

Overnight Accommodation 

If your sailing is cancelled or delayed for reasons other than weather, and as a result you need overnight accommodation, we will reimburse the cost in line with the following parameters:

• You will need to arrange and pay for your own accommodation.

• If possible we will arrange transport between the port terminal and the accommodation.

• The total cost of accommodation is limited to £70 per person per night for a maximum of 3 nights.

• If you are travelling with a motorhome, caravan or other vehicle with sleepover facilities we will reimburse the cost of the site fee for a maximum of 3 nights.

• Accommodation costs/site fees incurred after the service has resumed will not be reimbursed.

• In certain limited circumstances, when a service is disrupted due to a technical fault, it may be possible for customers to remain on board the vessel overnight.

• Coach/tour operators should make their own arrangements for their clients and then contact the Customer Team at Gourock to request reimbursement.

• Port and ship's staff cannot reimburse you for these costs.

• We will reimburse accommodation/site fee costs, as detailed within this document, when the following are sent to the Customer Team at Gourock within 2 months of the date of the disrupted journey:

  • original accommodation/site fee receipts.

  • your ticket purchase receipt confirming intention to travel.

  • a valid completed claim form.

Additional Mileage Incurred

If your sailing is disrupted for any reason and, as a result, your journey is re-routed and you incur additional mileage costs, we will reimburse mileage in line with the following parameters:

• If the departure port is changed - up to a maximum of 63 miles.

• If the arrival port is changed - up to a maximum of 63 miles.

• 63 miles applies to each end of the re-routed journey and cannot be added together to create a mileage allowance of 126 miles.

• If additional mileage incurred exceeds these limits and the reason for the disruption is something other than weather, your claim will be considered based on the circumstances of the disruption.

• In calculating additional costs incurred, we will take into account:

  • the price of the original ticket.

  • the price of the ticket for the re-routed journey.

  • any refund already given/due for any difference in ticket price.

  • extra mileage costs as a result of being re-routed.

• Passengers travelling in a vehicle for which a commercial vehicle/coach ticket has been issued, are not entitled to reimbursement for additional mileage costs incurred as a result of being re-routed, as these transactions are outside the provision of The Merchant Shipping (Passengers' Rights) (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.

• Port and ship's staff cannot reimburse you for these costs.

• We will reimburse your mileage costs, as detailed within this document, when the following are sent to the Customer Team at Gourock within 2 months of the date of the disrupted journey: 

  • your ticket purchase receipt confirming intention to travel.

  • details of the road journey made resulting in the additional mileage incurred including start and end postcodes.

  • a valid completed claim form.

Compensation 

Compensation is available on bookable routes when a booking/passenger ticket is held, and your sailing is cancelled or delayed due to a technical fault or 'certain' operational reasons resulting in a delayed arrival at the destination printed on your ticket.

• Example of operational reason which would attract compensation:

  • sailing is delayed or cancelled as a result of the redeployment of the vessel where the root cause of the disruption is a technical fault.

• Compensation is not available when disruption is caused by weather (includes tidal conditions), operational reasons or something which is outwith the control of CalMac Ferries.

• Examples of operational reasons which would not attract compensation and disruption which is outhwith the control of CalMac Ferries would be:

  • search and rescue operations,

  • technical fault resulting from an object being caught in the vessel's propulsion unit/around the rudder,

  • decisions taken by traffic management bodies or port authorities,

  • measures necessary to protect the environment or as a result of environmental conditions,

  • labour conflicts.

• Compensation only relates to the relevant leg of the journey and is based on the ticket price you have paid for that part of your journey.

For example, if a return ticket was purchased and the return leg of the journey is disrupted then compensation would be a
percentage of half of the original ticket price.

In the case of a scheduled ferry journey of up to 4 hours:

• 25% of the ticket price will be refunded for a delayed arrival of at least 1 hour.

or

• 50% of the ticket price will be refunded for a delayed arrival of over 2 hours.

In the case of a scheduled ferry journey of up to 4 - 8 hours:

• 25% of the ticket price will be refunded for a delayed arrival of at least 2 hours.

or

• 50% of the ticket price will be refunded for a delayed arrival of over 4 hours.

If you have a season ticket, and due to technical problems, experience recurrent delays during the period the ticket is valid, you can request compensation. Compensation would apply if technical reliability falls below an average of 90% over the validity period of your ticket.

• Passengers, travelling in a vehicle for which a commercial vehicle/coach ticket has been issued, are not entitled to compensation as these transactions are outside the provision of The Merchant Shipping (Passengers' Rights) (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.

• We will pay compensation, as detailed within this document, when the following are sent to the Customer Team at Gourock within 2 months of the date of the disrupted journey:

  • your ticket purchase receipt confirming intention to travel.

  • a valid completed claim form.

• We will pay any compensation due within 1 month of receiving your correctly completed valid claim form.

Claim Exclusions 

We cannot consider claims for any consequential losses or expenses which may include but are not limited to:

• Loss of earnings (individual or business).

• Unused travel tickets booked or paid for in advance for flights, buses, trains etc. Flight tickets required as result of missed connections.

• Unused car hire.

• Unused services booked or paid for in advance such as day trips, excursions, fishing trips, rounds of golf etc.

• Unused accommodation.

• Toiletries/clothing purchased.

• Perishable goods.

• Child care (additional/unused).

• Pet care (additional/unused).

• Parking costs incurred.

• Alternative travel arrangements i.e. flight costs, private vessel transfer.

Your Claim

Passenger Rights Claim Form

Transport Scotland oversees the final stage for claims in relation to The Merchant Shipping (Passengers' Rights) (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 concerning the rights of passengers travelling by sea and inland waterway. If you remain dissatisfied by CalMac Ferries Limited's response to your claim, you can ask Transport Scotland to review it. Should you wish to get in touch with Transport Scotland:

Ferries Unit
Transport Scotland
Area 2F Dockside
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ

Tel: 0141 272 7100

This information relates to The Merchant Shipping (Passengers' Rights) (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 concerning the rights of passengers when travelling by sea and inland waterway. This can be viewed at  legislation.gov.uk .

contactSCOTLAND-BSL

CalMac welcomes the opportunity to work with contactSCOTLAND that enables our customers with hearing impairments connect to us in a more inclusive format. 

BSL users can contact us via contactSCOTLAND-BSL, the on-line British Sign Language video relay interpreting service. Find out more on the contactSCOTLAND website.

Customers simply follow the instructions on the contactSCOTLAND website to down load the app and then through the interpretation service, communicate with CalMac to find out timetable information, buy tickets and more about our journeys

We hope that customers find this service useful and should you have any feedback on this please send this to enquiries@calmac.co.uk