Extra staff brought in for Largs to Cumbrae ferry's queues

Extra staff have been brought in to manage traffic on the ferry between Largs and the island of Cumbrae due to its popularity with day trippers.

The sailing, along with operator Caledonian MacBrayne's other routes, is running at a reduced capacity due to coronavirus restrictions.

That has resulted in people queuing for up to three hours to get onboard.

On two occasions in recent weeks, sales of day-return tickets were stopped because of the high demand.

• Ferry suspended amid 'extreme' passenger numbers

The ferry, which is a lifeline service for residents of Cumbrae, has had its largest number of day trippers during spells of warm weather.

Caledonian MacBrayne said between 2-8 August the route carried 21,549 passengers and 5,347 cars.

On the busiest days, day-tripper tickets were stopped at 13:00 to prevent people not being able to make it back to the mainland.

For the same period last year, when there were no restrictions on capacity, the route had 25,217 passengers and 4,836 cars.