Exclusive:Ferries scandal Scotland: Ferguson Marine chief executive 'misled' Holyrood committee over £24m safety changes

The yard requested the additional money after it claimed a different application of safety rules necessitated design changes.

Embattled shipyard Ferguson Marine’s chief executive has been accused of misleading the Scottish Parliament over safety changes demanded to two ferries by the marine regulator.

David Tydeman admitted in a letter to Holyrood’s net zero committee on Tuesday night the yard was wrong to have applied so-called ‘cargo rules’ to the two ships.

The shipyard was forced to delay the completion of the two ferries and requested a further £24 million from the taxpayer to cover the error, which required the widening of staircases and improved emergency evacuation routes.

The Ferguson Marine shipyard in Port Glasgow, with the Glen Rosa ferry being constructed. Picture: John Devlin

Previously, Mr Tydeman claimed these safety issues were “largely, but not exclusively, due to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) taking a different approach to regulation of crew escape from 801”.

He said this was “not a minor thing”, but was “pretty fundamental to whether the design of the ferry allows it to sail”.

However, he had also admitted to MSPs that overconfidence within the yard was the central reason for the failure to anticipate the safety concerns being raised by the MCA.

In a new letter to the committee, Mr Tydeman said this “overconfidence” should now “include FMPG's interpretation of conversations with the Glasgow office”.

He said: “In the interests of trying to reach early clarity and to progress the decisions with trials for Glen Sannox and with the build of Glen Rosa, 802, I can confirm that FMPG and the MCA team I met yesterday are agreed that the Glen Sannox was designed with the application of ‘cargo rules’ in mind by FMEL for crew spaces and was built by FMEL in 2015-2019 without the relevant plan approval processes being completed.

"I can also confirm that the ‘FMPG over-confidence’ I referred to in committee and in letters to you, should now include FMPG's interpretation of conversations with the Glasgow office. It is now clear to me that the issues lie within the FMPG/FMEL history of events and not between the local office and head office of the MCA as I was previously advised.

"I believe that we do now have a ‘shared understanding of events’ and I trust this will aid the CEO of the MCA in her response to your letter.”

This admission the shipyard got the position of MCA badly wrong has infuriated MSPs, with a source close to the net zero committee, which scrutinises the ongoing construction of the ferries, particularly scathing.

The source said: “It’s clear that David Tydeman, who was recently awarded a substantial bonus for his work, has misled the committee. I’m not sure which is worse.”

Sources at the shipyard said Mr Tydeman was given advice from a colleague within the organisation in relation to MCA approvals and had passed it on to the committee and MSPs in good faith.

Ferguson Marine declined to comment. The letter comes six years to the day of the original launch of the Glen Sannox by former first minister Nicola Sturgeon and amid concerns about future bonuses for senior management at the yard.