CalMac delivers more than two thirds of services in the face of Storm Abigail

As Storm Barney, the second major weather front of the winter approaches, ferry operator CalMac confirmed that it was able to run more than two thirds of services during Storm Abigail last week.

Collated figures are now available and show that on Thursday, CalMac operated 224 sailings from a total of 337 timetabled, while on Friday 277 sailings from a total of 352 were successfully completed, as the company continued to deliver its vital services across the 200-mile long network.

"Where possible and, of course, when safe to do so, we were determined to keep our ferries running," said Caledonian MacBrayne's Operations Director, Drew Collier. "It was undoubtedly windy, but the crews, ports and headquarters staff worked together to make sure we continued to try and get through to our communities."

Winds peaked across the Western Islands with some ferocious gusts of up to 80 miles per hour on Thursday.

Storm Barney is predicted to have less impact on the ferry network as it hits landfall further south tomorrow, but passengers are urged to keep checking the calmac.co.uk and @calmac_updates for details.