A local boat owner has hit out at Orkney Islands Council for refusing to let him transport a little boy to an island school.

In a letter to The Orcadian, Steve Vile, of Great White Fast Sea Charters, claims his boat is now suitable to transport five-year-old Jordan Basford from Egilsay to Rousay every day.

Jordan is the only pupil at Egilsay school and his grandparents are keen for him to travel to classes in Rousay where he would be with other children.

Mr Vile won an OIC contract to run the special daily service last year, but was unable to conduct a trial run due to engine problems. He claimed that to go ahead with the trial with only one engine working would have been “irresponsible”.

Mr Vile notified the council in January that the boat was up and running again and that he was ready to conduct further trials. However, he received no response until March when he was told by council officials that the situation was under review.

“There has been a vessel – with new engines fitted – available to them since January 6, 2004, to carry out this service at a cost accepted by the council previously. However, for some reason they have declined to accept it,” he wrote in a letter to The Orcadian this week.

Mr Vile contacted the council last month stating that he would no longer be available for the service if he did not receive word on the matter.

He also suggested that the remainder of this school term should be used to conduct a trial run, but said the council refused him permission.

“Again this was declined and we were told that no decision would be made until it had gone back to committee,” Mr Vile added.

His claims come after the Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre community council rejected proposals from OIC to change the ferry service, so Jordan could travel to Rousay each morning.

Mr Edwin Dick, chairman of the community council, said the group was unhappy with the proposals from officials to alter the ferry timetable.

One idea put forward was that the ferry would run to Rousay, stopping off at Egilsay on the way – a move that would delay the journey by about an hour, Mr Dick said.

“It would have caused huge disruptions to everybody,” he said. “The only other option, in our mind, would be to alter the school times on Rousay. We are sure there are other ways of looking at this which have not yet been fully explored.”

However, Mr Dick said he did not see Mr Vile’s boat as the best proposal either.

“A young child travelling back and forth to Egilsay on a small boat every day, over what is sometimes a very rough stretch of water, we don’t know many parents who would be happy doing that,” he said.

A recent report brought before councillors stated that keeping the Egilsay school open was not viable and that better arrangements for Egilsay pupils to get to Rousay needed to be put in place.

Councillors eventually recommended that the consultation process for the closure of the school be stopped until a proper link between Egilsay and Rousay school is in place.

Mr Dick said the community council saw Jordan continuing to attend Egilsay school as the only realistic choice.

“Certainly there has been only one pupil at Egilsay school in the past, and the people of Egilsay do not want to lose their school,” he said.

An OIC spokesman said: “Mr Vile was told at the start of April we would not be accepting his tender at this time. On two occasions he was unable to fulfil the terms of the tender so the council needed to look at other options, and he was advised of this position.”

Interim arrangements have been put in place while the matter moves ahead, the spokesman added. The short-term arrangement sees young Jordan travel to school in Rousay three days a week, the spokesman explained.

He added that Mr Vile would be welcome to bid again if the matter is brought to tender.

The OIC spokesman added: “It is a difficult situation to balance the duty to provide school education with the needs of three different islands. Orkney Islands Council, as a matter of urgency, is renewing all options again to try to balance these two interests.”