Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Anger at supplier as isles face fuel crisis

Anger at supplier  as isles face fuel  crisis

PARTS of the Western Isles were in danger of running out of fuel last night as ferries remained stormbound and island storage tanks were closed for repairs.

Motorists in the Uists faced rationing at the pumps yesterday as the shortages began to bite.

One filling station on South Uist ran out of petrol altogether and angry islanders blamed wholesaler Scottish Fuels for the crisis. The company said the supply problem had been caused by fuel storage tanks at the Lochcarnan depot being out of use while they were repaired, and bad weather hitting backup deliveries by road tanker and ferry.

Retailers and motorists criticised the fuel firm over the timing of the repairs, one islander saying they were being treated as “second-class citizens”. Stephen Macaulay, manager of Hillside Filling Station at Lochboisdale, said: “We have no petrol. We got a delivery of diesel this morning but it was a fraction of what we would normally get.

“We’re rationing it, particularly for commercial vehicles.”

He said the petrol did not arrive when expected on Wednesday and his phone had rung off the hook since then, with customers anxious to know when the next supplies would arrive.”

Donald Macneil, owner of the Burnside Filling Station at Daliburgh, was rationing both petrol and diesel. He said: “I’ve been OK up to now but I was expecting fuel today because I need it for tomorrow. I’ve been told I won’t get any today because the ferry has been cancelled. I don’t know when I will get some.”

Roderick Maclean, of the A.C. Maclean garage at Castlebay on Barra, said he was running low on heating fuel but had enough petrol and diesel to last until Christmas. He was expecting a delivery today but he doubted it would arrive because more bad weather was forecast.

Neil MacDonald, a director of the company that runs filling stations at Ballivanich and Lincleate, said Ballivanich had run out of diesel last week but had since had a delivery.

A spokeswoman for John Morrison Filling Station at Lochmaddy said it had no problems with supply.

One Ballivanich resident said: “It’s ludicrous, shutting down plant at this time of year. They have no respect for us at all out here and are treating us as second-class citizens.

“North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist and Barra are being supplied from Stornoway. That takes two ferries, in winter conditions. We can’t be left high and dry with no backup.”

A Scottish Fuels spokesman said: “We are experiencing a temporary problem supplying our Lochcarnan depot due to the very poor weather and the fact that a number of tanks are out of commission due to maintenance.

“We are doing everything we can to rectify the problem and, weather permitting, we expect to have fresh supplies at Lochcarnan from Stornoway and the mainland in the coming days.”

Will the north get a white Christmas? Page 11