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Letters: Local Transport Problems & Liners

Dear Orkney News, My husband had a hospital appointment for 10.30 on Tuesday morning.  He has an injured ankle, so can’t drive. I haven’t driven for years as my eye-sight is too bad.  For his hospital appointments we’ve been mainly relying on taxis.  It occurred to him to book early, on Monday, in case there…

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Dear Orkney News,

and envelope

My husband had a hospital appointment for 10.30 on Tuesday morning.  He has an injured ankle, so can’t drive. I haven’t driven for years as my eye-sight is too bad.  For his hospital appointments we’ve been mainly relying on taxis. 

It occurred to him to book early, on Monday, in case there was a Liner in.  He tried multiple taxi firms – but they were all booked up.  Fortunately, the man who is cutting our grass for us also runs a taxi firm ( the Orcadian way of having more than one job!).  He said he’d take us and bring us back. Problem solved.

But – the situation now is that when there are Liners in, the people who live here can’t get a taxi when they need one, for example, for a hospital appointment.

That isn’t right.

Yours, Bernie Bell, Orkney

9 responses to “Letters: Local Transport Problems & Liners”

  1. Mike Robertson Avatar
    Mike Robertson

    A friend of mine, now retired, used to drive a patient transport ambulance in central Scotland. I think he used to pick up people from their houses and take them in to hospital appointments. I wonder if a similar system could work here?

    Reply
    1. berniebell1955 Avatar
      berniebell1955

      A very good idea!

      Reply
  2. strathedin Avatar
    strathedin

    As far as I’m aware, we still have a similar Patient Transport service in the Scottish Borders…however, the issue will as always come down to “Who covers the costs”? Certainly worth asking your local Health Board, or discussing with the local MSP…

    Reply
    1. berniebell1955 Avatar
      berniebell1955

      I sent the following to Liam McArthur…

      “I wrote to ‘The Orkney News’ and Fiona published my letter, which is self- explanatory…

      https://theorkneynews.scot/2024/05/29/letters-local-transport-problems-liners/

      Please read the ‘Comments’ and take appropriate action!

      Thanks

      Bernie”

      Reply
  3. Elisabeth Sidler Avatar
    Elisabeth Sidler

    While I find the idea of a patient transport service absolutely great, it does nothing to solve the problem of the liner passengers having preference over the residents and those tourists who spend mor than a few hours on the island. For instance, one of my friends needed a taxi to go to the airport on Tuesday morning with some luggage. She too tried unsuccessfully to book on Monday and had to call around in her circle of family and friends for someone free and willing to drive her.
    Last year I talked to a couple who spent a fortnight on Mainland in a Bed & Breakfast, visiting sites, renting a car, going out for meals, shopping in local shops. They never had a chance of seeing Maes Howe as those visiting slots were all booked up when the couple arrived in Orkney, many of the slots being filled up with parties from liners.
    Inconveniently closed roads, popular visiting sites booked up months in advance, locals languishinhg in tailbacks behind cycle groups from a liner or having to wait until some liner crowd or other has finished taking pictures from the middle of the road and various other disadvantages are imposed on the local residents who are the backbone of Orkney’s culture and infrastructure and on those tourists who visit out of true interest in the islands and not just because their liner decants them ashore for a few hours on one day.

    In my opinion, the wrong people are being made much of, and as far as I can see too little is done to minimise the unwelcome sides of the liner passengers’ impact on the local people or to recompense them in some way or other for the inconveniences they have to put up with which unfortunately far too often include tolerating the mass phenomenon of rudeness and selfishness by passengers of big liners.

    The weekly notice of the planned liner visits is much appreciated by most of the people I know, but it somehow doesn’t sit right that the large liners are allowed and even helped by whatever authorities have the say on the various issues to totally dominate the place they visit during the few hours they’re here. Advantages and disadvantages ought to be in balance – residents aren’t just grudgingly tolerated parts of the local backdrop and atmosphere displayed for short time visitors.

    Elisabeth Sidler

    Reply
  4. berniebell1955 Avatar
    berniebell1955

    In the ‘subject’ line of my email to Liam McArthur I typed…’Liners Vs. Locals’. Shouldn’t be that way, but far too often is.

    Reply
  5. S Davidson Avatar
    S Davidson

    I wonder whether the impact of the mass tourism must become as bad as in Venice and other places where local people have begun protesting until things change.
    For shopping trips etc. one can avoid “busy” days, for medical appointments this is rarely an option.
    And not only cruise ships are an issue.
    Everybody who ever had to travel to or back from ARI or other mainland hospitals in summer knows how bad it can be if you are needing overnight accommodation in Kirkwall between flights/ferries. Either you find none whatsoever and have to spend your night outside on a bench (great if you just had surgery) or you find a room at extortionate costs.
    There would be options to mitigate the impacts on locals. For example better coordination between inter-island flights and inter-island ferries. But this would require a will and – more importantly – competence. I am not sure whether any of this is present at the local authority.

    Reply
  6. berniebell1955 Avatar
    berniebell1955

    You mention Venice….I wrote the following in m’blog in January…..

    “Could Orkney Learn From Venice?…

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67851201

    One reason why….

    https://theorkneynews.scot/2022/03/14/more-than-just-a-ditch/

    And one of the reasons for that wear & tear…

    https://theorkneynews.scot/2021/09/21/re-the-urgent-need-for-an-energy-transition/“

    Reply
  7. berniebell1955 Avatar
    berniebell1955

    I received the following reply – totally missing the point – and I doubt if Fiona would print what I would like to have said in response – I kept it polite!

    “Dear Bernie – further to our ongoing correspondence about taxi availability, I’ve now received a response from Laura Skaife-Knight, NHS Orkney’s Chief Executive.

    Ms Skaife-Knight writes, “Thank you for your email regarding the availability of taxis for patients attending hospital appointments. As Julie Tait, our Patient Experience Officer, has already mentioned, we have not received any formal complaints or feedback relating to this issue. On checking with our teams who have contact with the taxi firms, they are not aware of any feedback/complaints about this. NHS Orkney have a contract with Orkney Cabs and if the taxi is arranged by the hospital, meaning it is paid for by NHS Orkney for an appropriate hospital appointment, we do get first priority on these bookings. These are relatively quick at arriving once the call is put in by our switchboard.

    “If they are not part of this contract, we don’t have any input or involvement with the bookings so are unaware of the wait times. Regrettably I can only comment on our involvement in arranged bookings but do sympathise that a busy Kirkwall town centre on days when many visitors are using the service, that this could cause difficulties for Orkney residents.”

    I hope you find Ms Skaife-Knight’s reply helpful, if only for its clarification, but please let me know if you wish to make any further comments at this stage.

    Meantime, thanks for sharing your understandable concerns with me in the first instance.

    Kind regards, Liam

    Liam McArthur MSP
    Liberal Democrat, Orkney “

    Reply

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