North boats cancelled again due to bad weather

A FORECAST of more gale-force winds has prompted NorthLink to cancel sailings to and from Aberdeen on Tuesday night.

The Hjaltland will remain tied up in Aberdeen instead of sailing north to Lerwick via Orkney and the Hrossey, which arrived in Lerwick at 3.30am on Tuesday, will not now sail until 5.30pm on Wednesday.

The north-westerly winds, which brought snow early this morning which turned to sleet, are forecast to veer north-easterly and ease, with the wintry showers dying out on Wednesay.

A spokesman at Sumburgh Airport said flights had been getting in and out, although some had been delayed. Inter-island ferries are running normally.

Meanwhile, on Monday Scottish and Southern Energy decided to organise linesmen to come up to Shetland in the case of further disruption to power supplies. Power had been lost in the south mainland on Saturday, and with the forecast on Monday predicting bad weather the company was fearful of further power cuts.

However conditions changed on Tuesday and the linesmen did not come to Shetland but stayed on standby in the Highlands region. No further power cuts have been reported in Shetland.