The company, which holds a £238 million contract to transport prisoners, has already been fined around £4m for performance failures. Late arrivals can cause criminal hearings to be delayed and leave vulnerable witnesses waiting for hours.

Figures from the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), obtained by the Sunday Mail, cover the period from January to October last year.

The scale of disruption comes despite GEOAmey reporting revenues of £119.5m in 2024, with a pre-tax profit of £4.3m. That compares with £108.2m in revenue and £4.9m in pre-tax profit the previous year.

Liam McArthur, Scottish Liberal Democrats’ justice spokesman, said: “The scale of failure in the delivery of the contract is staggering. When prisoner transfers do not run smoothly, court time is wasted and justice delayed.

“Justice Secretary [Angela Constance] has a responsibility to ensure the justice system is safe, effective and well resourced. She must ensure GEOAmey shape up or ship out.”

In January 2024 it emerged that the company had paid more than £2m to shareholders and senior staff while seeking additional public funding to maintain the service.

An Audit Scotland report published in 2023 found that steps taken by the SPS to improve GEOAmey’s performance had had “limited impact”.

By October 2023, staffing levels had fallen to 520 full-time equivalent posts – around 20 to 25 per cent below the level required to deliver the service effectively.

GEOAmey was the sole bidder for the eight-year £238m contract awarded in 2018, after Serco and G4S withdrew from the tender process.

A spokesperson for GEOAmey said: “The contract was recalibrated by Scottish government in 2023 to recognise unforeseen economic impacts and significant changes to the employment landscape.

“Since then, record number of officers have been recruited to service the contract and leavers have also reached an all-time low.”

It added: “The contract in Scotland anticipates that some people will arrive late to court due to a number of factors. The team in Scotland recently recorded their 21st successive month where performance has exceeded the contractual target for court arrivals.”

SPS said: “Following the recalibration of our contract with GEOAmey, we have seen improved staffing levels, with reduced attrition, and continuous improvement in performance, including for journeys to court and hospitals.”

The Scottish government said: “We have provided additional funding to support the SPS and other partners in delivering an improvement in the GEOAmey contract.”