TRANSPORT Minister Humza Yousaf has admitted that ScotRail have "clearly" had challenges this autumn and winter after he was confronted about consistent failures on the Fife Circle line.

At General Questions this morning (Thursday) in Holyrood, Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Alex Rowley praised the work of the Dunfermline Press' Crush Hour campaign in highlighting the poor journey experiences faced by commuters and asked what action the Scottish Government was taken to address this.

Mr Yousaf said he "completely" understands the frustration of passengers in Fife and it was clear that ScotRail had faced many challenges in the autumn and winter period.

He also announced that Alex Haynes, Managing Director of Abellio Scotrail, had launched an independent review following recent problems and invited Fife MSP's to meet with himself and ScotRail so they could express their constituent’s concerns.

Mr Yousaf told members of the Scottish Parliament that he had been closely following coverage by the Dunfermline Press and had been informed by Fife MSP's about issues.

Mark Ruskell MSP also responded by asking the minister if he would consider fining the operator for stop skipping.

Mr Yousaf said: "Stop skipping counts as a Public Performance Monitoring failure and ScotRail have been fined when they do not hit these targets.

"When I became transport minister I told ScotRail that I expect them to minimise the skipping of stops, particularly during peak hours."

More to follow in next week's Press.