Why are motorhomes, caravans and campervans unable to join the standby queues at ports? 

Following discussions with Transport Scotland and listening to feedback from stakeholder groups, this change has been introduced to prioritise customers with no alternative accommodation and to help optimise use of the limited deck space that remains once all booked customers and their vehicles are loaded onto a vessel.   

An unbooked vehicle of any size without on board accommodation may need priority. Also, where there's very little deck space left over, we can optimise its use by shipping car type vehicles from standby lanes since they can park at angles and fit into the remaining tight spaces. Unfortunately, larger vehicles like motorhomes, campervans and vehicles towing caravans are less able to do so.   

If we use our standby lanes for cars, we'll be better placed to make efficient use of remaining space. This approach also avoids motorhome / campervan and caravan customers sitting in stand-by queues when there's less possibility of being able to fit within the space that's left.