Frustrated ferry passengers have threatened to ram their cars into CalMac staff after sailings were delayed, a trade union chief has warned.
Martyn Gray, of seafarers' union Nautilus International, claimed workers were also retiring early amid increased intimidation - while a fellow union organiser said police had been drafted in on bank holidays.
Labour MSP Monica Lennon said: "This is shocking and shameful. Scotland’s ferry crisis is putting the safety of crews at risk, and the buck stops with the SNP’s transport minister.
"Urgent action is needed before someone is seriously hurt.”
A Holyrood committee has launched an inquiry into CalMac ferry services, which are sometimes delayed by a range of factors including safety concerns.
Gray, executive officer at an international trade union, warned that passenger frustrations were being directed at staff.
He said: "Our members and the people that work on those ferries are equally as frustrated with the situation as the passengers and travelling public are, because our members do not want to be having to cause delays to people. Our members are not causing the delays to people.
“We're finding ourselves in a situation that is causing passenger frustration to be taken out on our people. And that's not right. CalMac [the operator] do try to deal with it robustly where they can, but physical threats from passengers are not uncommon when delays occur.”
He added: “The kinds of abuse that our members have been subjected to, in recent times, have included some threats involving people threatening to drive into them to run them over.
“We are starting to see people come to their limit, see people consider retirement options earlier than what we would expect and see people indeed look for opportunities that don't necessarily involve dealing with members of the travelling public, owing to levels of abuse that they receive.”
Gordon Martin, Regional Organiser for the RMT union, told MSPs: "It's putting stress and pressure on frontline workers. When things don't go the way people expect them to go they very often take the blame out on...people that don't deserve it.
“We've had to raise it with the company, at managing director level, we've raised it with the transport minister. People are being threatened, physically, verbally and so on, and it's not acceptable.
“So we are looking for the company to do everything they can to avoid that, and the only real way they can avoid that is to get some resilience in there, get some additional vessels so that if something goes wrong, somewhere, there is an alternative vessel.”
He said: “What can be done, and has been done, on bank holidays and things like that, police have been made available in certain terminals and additional security to ensure the safety of workers in particular as people wait to go on and off ferries.”
Lennon, who drew out the answers at the Holyrood committee, said: “No one should be threatened at their work, and it’s clear that the Scottish Government is not doing enough to address the serious issues affecting ferry users and the workforce.
“Of course passengers feel let down and need reliable ferry services, but this is down to years of underinvestment by the SNP government.”
The Record has asked the Scottish Government for comment.
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