MP Sheryll Murray has backed calls for the firm which carried out repairs that led to major delays on the Torpoint Ferry to help fund compensation to users caught up in the chaos.

The Conservative MP for South East Cornwall addressed a special meeting of the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry Joint Committee on Friday morning.

The committee is made up of councillors from Cornwall Council and Plymouth City Council which are jointly responsible for the ferry and bridge.

Last year there was widespread disruption on the ferry service due to delays in repairs which were taking place on one of the three ferries which are run.

A switch to a five-yearly maintenance schedule meant that one of the ferries was out of action while it underwent a refit. However when one of the other ferries also broke down it meant there was just one ferry running on a number of occasions, causing long delays.

Members of the committee suggested at the meeting that the firm responsible for the ferry maintenance and repairs – A&P in Falmouth – should be given a financial penalty for the delays.

But the committee heard there was nothing in the contract that the firm has which would allow such a penalty to be levied.

Mrs Murray had written to the manager of the ferry service David List, suggesting that some form of compensation or goodwill payment should be made to people who were disrupted by the delays.

And the MP was given special permission to address the committee at the meeting in Torpoint Council Hall.

She said: “Those people who normally use the ferry had to make the long journey through Saltash and to the bridge – it is extra time and extra petrol.”

The MP said she had been told there was no way of distinguishing between which users would normally use the ferry and then used the bridge so there was no way of identifying who would be eligible for compensation.

She said there was also a need to improve the way that ferry breakdowns and delays are communicated to users and suggested that the councils should use the email addresses that they have for all tag users to let them know.

“If you know the ferry has broken down and will take days to repair why on earth can you not email tag users to alert them?”

The MP added: “I know people who have been disrupted by being late for work. I know people who have had childcare and it has cost them extra childcare.

“Go to the refitter at Falmouth and say to them, ‘You caused this, we didn’t, we want compensation in order to compensate our users’.”

She added: “Please be honest, be honest with my constituents and look to compensate them for goodwill. Look at it as a positive thing you can do not negatively.”

A report given to the committee showed a number of options for ways in which a goodwill payment could be given to those affected.

Plymouth councillor Patrick Nicholson suggested that the committee should support the option of giving an additional 10% discount for all tag users for crossings made during October and November 2018.

That would cost £70,000 but the committee was told that while the options had been provided they were only a guide.

As a result, Cllr Nicholson recommended that the councils’ legal departments give their opinion on giving a one-off payment and what the implications could be for the future.

There was a packed public gallery at the meeting and there was anger when committee chairman John Crago said that none of the 18 public questions submitted for the meeting would be taken as they were not directly related to the agenda.

Cllr Nicholson said the committee should be able to take the questions and suggested that an informal session should take place after the formal meeting to allow the public to ask questions.

During that session Torpoint town councillor Lambert Keise asked whether the committee would be willing to hold a full public meeting to give people the chance to give their views and ask questions.

The committee agreed to organise a public meeting which will be held at a later date and during the evening so that as many people as possible can attend.