A Western Isles ferry is being taken out of service for the second time in five weeks.

The Lochboisdale to Mallaig service will be suspended from January 23 while repairs are made to the Lord of the Isles.

Concerns have been raised over the integrity of the 31-year-old vessel's thinning hull and it is unclear when it will return to service.

The Lord of the Isles was laid up in Oban over Christmas when the problem was first discovered.

Robert Kelso, CalMac's fleet technical manager, said: "The ship's steelwork is formally inspected to a five-yearly fixed schedule under MCA rules and wasn't due to be looked at again until the end of this year.

"However, due to the severe weather conditions in which our ships operate, the onboard engineers do routine inspections in-between the formal one, and the latest of these just before Christmas found a small section which needed repair."

Passengers travelling to South Uist have been advised to travel via Lochmaddy in North Uist, and extra ferries will sail between Eriskay and Ardmhor, which connects to the Oban to Castlebay service.

Mr Kelso added: "We cannot say how long the repairs will take until the work has been formally assessed and scoped but we will do everything we can to get her back into service as soon as possible.

"In the meantime, we apologise for any inconvenience caused."