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By Martin Graham
STRATHCLYDE Police are flouting data protection laws by charging £60 to reveal details of drivers involved in collisions.
Police have traditionally refused to disclose driver’s addresses or insurance policy numbers, saying that it contravenes the Data Protection Act.
But Strathclyde Police are charging £60.50 to release Road Crash Reports, which records the name and address of the owner and driver, as well as insurance company details and policy number.
By Oliver Farrimond
DETECTIVES hunting a man in a rugby top who raped a girl at the Royal Highland Show are appealing for party-goers to send them photographs from the event to help catch him.
Police think that other revellers may have accidentally caught the suspect on camera, as they search for clues as to the whereabouts of the attacker.
The girl was sexually assaulted during the Young Farmers Ball in the early hours of Saturday morning, near portable toilets outside the marquee.
The suspect is described as being white, in his mid to late 20s and around 5ft 10ins in height. Continue reading
SCOTS shoppers could soon be quids in when they see a return of wonky vegetables to supermarket shelves tomorrow.
An EU ban on the sale of misshapen fruit and veg will be lifted tomorrow (Wed), with some stores already vowing to slash costs with bargain bags of barmy veg.
Sainsbury’s is hailing Wednesday as the day the “wonky veg war” was won.
And Scottish farmers are hoping that they can share the spoils with shoppers too.
Curly carrots and cucumbers will be back on the shelves in a move promising to see some produce prices cut by up to 40 per-cent.
And the new rules will see less food thrown away before it’s sold, according to Aberdeen Agricultural College food marketing expert David Lamb.
Continue reading
By Oliver Farrimond
VISITORS to the annual Royal Highland Show were treated to a royal visit yesterday, as the Queen made an appearance at the show for the first time in more than twenty years.
Wearing a lime-green coat and matching hat, she began her visit at the handcrafting area before hosting a lunch at stately Ingliston House.
A patron of the show’s organising body, the Royal Highlands and Agricultural Society of Scotland, the Queen was paying a visit to mark the show’s 225th anniversary.
Also in attendance in yesterday’s (Friday’s) show was First Minister Alex Salmond, who embarked on a whistle-stop tour of agricultural vendors, livestock breeders and traditional food stalls.
He said: “I’m delighted to be visiting this year’s Show, which is one of the country’s flagship gatherings, among more than 300 events of this year of Homecoming. Continue reading
Peter Scott and Sharon Anderson in the new treadmill
By Cara Sulieman
HORSES at an agricultural college caused a rift after they ruined prime farmland – so staff bought them a treadmill.
The 25 horses at Oatridge college were let loose on the estate and stampeded over the pasture land, much to the fury of the farming department.
Peter Scott, head of agriculture and farming at the college, was furious to see what they had done to his grass – and went to war with the equine department.
But now bosses at the college have purchased the treadmill in the hope that the two factions can get along better once it’s installed.
By Rory Reynolds
CASH-STRAPPED students are being offered thousands of pounds to work on farms this summer amid fears that a manpower shortage could threaten Scotland’s massive tattie industry.
Tattie pickers – or potato-roguers – are being offered up to £3,500 to work from June to August to roam Scotland’s 27,000 acres of potato crops looking for diseased plants and dodgy potatoes.
The roguers must first pass an eight day course at the Scottish Agricultural College in Aberdeen to ensure that they are up to the job.
But course organiser Ken Rundle reckons that the tempting tatties are the perfect answer to the credit crunch.
By Oliver Farrimond
PROTESTORS drove a flock of sheep to the Scottish Parliament to complain about new EWE-ropean Union plans to fleece Scottish farmers with a new electronic tagging system.
Farmer Kelvin Pate brought the sheep and their lambs to meet Tavish Scott, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, who was due to debate the measures later in the afternoon.
Critics say the mandatory scheme would place an unnecessary financial burden on hard-up farmers, and that the plan was not suited to the craggy Scottish countryside.
Scott, himself a former farmer, said that the proposals were not practical, and were the result of woolly thinking from Brussels.
He said: “These sheep tagging plans are unnecessary, unworkable and will push farmers and crofters out of sheep production. Continue reading
Deadline Press & Picture Agency 