Fake invoices Clerk branded “classic conman”

By Michael MacLeod

A SHERIFF Clerk is facing jail for conning the Scottish Court Service out of £130,000.

Graeme Wilson faked signatures on hundreds of jury members’ expenses forms and wrote himself blank cheques under the names of imaginary doctors billing the court.

The 29 year-old was branded “the classic conman” by a Sheriff yesterday (Tuesday) after hearing of his “breathtaking” breach of trust.

He lied to workmates that he earned extra cash through semi-professional rugby and property development.

But his scam was snared when colleagues at Edinburgh Sheriff Court became suspicious of his lavish lifestyle.

Call for cull of fat cats to save council money

By Andrea McCallum

A LOCAL authority leader has called for the cull of council fat cats to help save money by the start of the new financial year.

Councillor Jenny Dawe ordered City of Edinburgh Council’s chief executive to look at cutting chief staff before April.

And six directors earning over £100,000 a year could be among the targets.

The council is hunting for savings as part of a £90 million cut over the next three years.

Councillor Dawe suggested merging departments and having both directors and senior managers take on more work.

She said: “I will put a motion to the (policy and strategy) committee asking the chief executive to report to the budget meeting of all ways of reducing costs and structures of senior management.

“Although we have taken some steps to reducing management layers and working more efficiently, we have not had a formal report and the chief executive will be asked to provide one.

“We have to look at all levels of staffing in the council and senior management levels need to be looked at as much as other layers of staff.

“Given age profiles, it may be that this can be delivered relatively quickly and we may be able to deliver savings for the next budget year.

“It is a case of looking at whether efficiencies can be made or potentially reducing numbers by combining departments.”

Tom Aitchison, council chief executive, is to report back on his findings by next month.

The city council has been slammed in the past for paying out enormous wage packets.

A recent analysis of salaries showed that 23 staff earn more than three times the average Edinburgh salary at £79, 248.

And seven of those earn six-figure sums – including Mr Aitchison who takes home over £150,000.

The six other directors – corporate, finance, services for communities, health and social care, and education and city development – are each paid over £105,000.

Trade unions urged caution when identifying ways to save money.

John Stevenson, president of Unison’s Edinburgh branch, said: “It is seductive to reduce the number of top earners and managers but there is a balance to be struck.

“For example, social work struggled for a number of years because there were not enough managers so those that there are can get bogged down in operational matters.

“We are happy to talk about any ideas that they have but we would caution that we wouldn’t want to end up with the organisation being under-managed.”

UK’s oldest car factor to be demolished

By Andrea McCallum

BRITAIN’S oldest car factory is on the brink of demolition after developers did a u-turn on its future.

The Madelvic car factory has stood in Edinburgh’s Granton Park Avenue since 1899 and was built to make electric vehicles.

It is thought to be one of the oldest surviving purpose-built car factories in the world.

But now its developers – Buredi – have asked for permission to flatten the B-listed building.

The site was threatened with a bulldozer in 2008 but it was saved when Buredi pulled their application.

Historic Scotland and the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland (AHSS) have opposed the move.

City council planning officers have submitted a report to go before tomorrows meeting of the development management sub-committee.

They said: “There is a compelling argument to retain the building based on its existing condition and its historical and cultural associations, but it is accepted that should the building be retained intact, it would appear impossible to advance proposals for the redevelopment of the wider site.

“The building would remain unoccupied indefinitely and fall into further disrepair, whilst the remainder of the site remain undeveloped as a gap site blighting the redevelopment of Granton,”

Historic Scotland said: “The Madelvic’s production blocks are an important reminder of Edinburgh’s industrial heritage, with a wider historical interest as the earliest surviving motor works in the UK.

“We believe that they represent an opportunity to retain and reuse a historic building.”

Euan Leitch, spokesman for the AHSS, said: “If the council give consent, it will be the tenth listed building that the council have given permission to demolish in just over the two years.

“That’s a trend that I would be concerned about. In virtually all these, the economic argument has been the most powerful argument with regard to demolition.”

But Forth Councillor Allan Jackson is backing the demolition.

He said: “It’s an old, old brick thing falling to bits and the only reason it is listed is because of its connection with the car factory.

“There’s nothing in the building itself of any historic interest to anybody, so any about-turn which means it could be demolished is really to be welcomed.

“It’s the best way forward for this area.”

Rival boxers back in the ring to set up knock-out gym

By Andrea McCallum

A PAIR of Scottish boxing rivals have traded in their punches to help transform an ancient church into a training ring.

Former world champion Willie “Mighty” Quinn and Alex Brown put their competitive days behind them to open the Bronx Boxing Gym in East Lothian – a centre to train future stars of the sport.

And their every move will be documented on TV thanks to a BBC property programme.

Farmer has lucky escape from toppled tractor

By Andrea McCallum

A FARMER had a lucky escape after his tractor overturned leaving him trapped inside.

The terrified 54-year-old was left stranded in the snowy field in freezing temperatures for more than hour before local residents rushed to help on  Monday afternoon.

Emergency services raced to the farm – in Longyester, East Lothian – at about 3.50pm after he complained of chest pains after being rescued.

Sir Anthony’s Artwork in Scotland

By Andrea McCallum

A NEW collection of artwork by Oscar-winning star Sir Anthony Hopkins will go on show in Scotland later this year.

The 50-piece set of paintings will be exhibited at The Dome bar in Edinburgh for five days in March.

And art-lovers can even buy the 72-year-old actor’s handiwork which will be mainly landscapes and portraits.

Almost 50,000 driving tests cancelled thanks to weather

By Cara Sulieman

INSTRUCTORS are working round the clock to clear a massive back-log of almost 50,000 cancelled driving tests which were wiped out by the arctic weather conditions.

Thousands of driving tests had to be cancelled across the UK since late last year as treacherous road conditions made it too dangerous and in some cases impossible to carry out.

The Driving Standards Agency has re-scheduled 47,500 practical exams due to snow and ice clogging up the road network and making it too dangerous for learner drivers.

Tests have been running as normally as possible during the big freeze, but the DSA started having a large national problem from December 21.

In Scotland alone a total of 4,766 tests have been cancelled, including car, bike and LGV learner drivers affected.

‘J.A.’ Rowling debut novel goes under the hammer

By Rory Reynolds

SHE is now among the richest woman in Britain, and amassed much of her £500million fortune in just five years, after the titanic success of her adventure novels.

But JK Rowling’s publisher, Bloomsbury, once sent out a copy of Harry Potter and the Philoshoper’s Stone to critics, authors and booksellers across the UK – with her name spelt wrong.

Critics’ first glimpse of the novel, which had been written by the impoverished single mum in coffee shops around Edinburgh, cited the author as J.A.Rowling, with the publisher’s note calling her ‘Joanna’.

Now the mistake has been revealed as an ‘uncorrected’ version goes under the hammer today at Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh.

The plain-covered novel, which contains grammatical and spelling errors, is expected to fetch around £1800.

Men face court after car falls through ice on canal

The car plunged through the ice on the Union Canal

By Cara Sulieman

TWO men face court after narrowly cheating death by allegedly driving along a frozen CANAL in a car.

Police blasted them as “stupid” after their vehicle broke through ice on the Union Canal in West Lothian plunging the pair into the freezing water and sparking a rescue operation.

It is alleged hapless driver and his passenger was motoring along the frozen canal near Winchburgh on Monday afternoon when the ice gave way and his Peugeot 406 plunged into the icy water.

The men are alleged to have driven down a slip road off the B8046 near junction two of the M9 that leads to a popular picnic and dog walking spot by the water, before edging on to the ice.

The black Peugeot got about half a mile down the canal before the fragile ice gave way and the front of the car smashed into the water.

Staff and passengers brave -8C after bungling alarm workman causes airport evacuation

By Rory Reynolds

PASSENGERS and staff at one of Scotland’s busiest airports had to be evacuated into freezing night-time conditions after a bungling engineer tripped an alarm while carrying out repair work.

At least several hundred people spent around an hour outside Edinburgh Airport as the temperature dipped to –8C on Sunday night.

And one aircraft is believed to have had to circle the airport for 40 minutes while the fault was resolved on the ground below, with three others also experiencing delays because of the evacuation.

Crews from Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue arrived to find shop workers, airline staff and passengers stranded outside the terminal building, while those on the other side of the security check-ins were taken to the runway side of the building.

Emma Wetton, store manager at Boots, which is after located behind the security check-ins, said that their staff had to stand for an hour in –8C after the alarm went off.