Freight plane to take food supplies

Dec 22 2012

A retailer has hired a freight plane to take food supplies to Shetland because ferries have been disrupted by the weather.

There have been no sailings to or from the islands for two days due to gales and high seas.

And ferry operator Serco Northlink said there is a strong possibility of disruption lasting until Christmas Eve.

Tesco said supplies are running low in its Shetland store ahead of its busiest weekend of the year, so the firm has chartered a Hercules plane to help restock.

The plane will fly from Norway to Edinburgh and will then run two supply flights on Saturday and and two more on Sunday.

Store manager Paul Clelland said: "We do this because we have got a lot of very loyal customers and Christmas is a very important time of year.

"It is an opportunity for us to use our scale to do something for the public in Shetland.

"Obviously it is going to be expensive, but it is the right thing to do."