Charity match raises thousands for honeymoon crash couple

John and Nicola Tams

By Cara Sulieman

A CHARITY football match has raised almost £5,000 for the Scots couple who were mown down by a speeding motorist on their honeymoon.

John and Nicola Tams were on holiday in Sorrento when they were hit by the vehicle, leaving Nicola, 31, with broken ribs.

It took John, 30, a lot longer to recover after he had to be put in a medically induced coma to treat head and facial injuries.

His leg, pelvis and ribs were also smashed in the accident.

The football match saw John’s teams – the Heart’s supporters team Real Maroon and amateur team Duddingston Athletic – pitched against Hearts legends.

Charity football match for honeymoon Scots

 

John and Nicola Tams were hit by a car on their honeymoon

By Cara Sulieman

A CHARITY football match is to be held to help raise money for a Scot who was left fighting for his life after being hit by a car on honeymoon.

John Tams, 30, was on holiday with his new wife Nicola when they were mowed down by a speeding motorist in Sorrento.

Nicola, 31, suffered broken ribs and was treated in hospital before being released after the accident two weeks ago.

But John is still in intensive care after he had to be put in a medically induced come to treat head and facial injuries.

Italian driver who mowed down honeymoon Scots banned

By Paul Thornton & Lorenzo Dalberto

THE Italian driver who mowed down a Scots honeymoon couple leaving the groom fighting for his life has been banned from the roads.

Police in Sorrento said a 22-year-old local man was detained and questioned following the horror 1am crash last Friday which hospitalised newlyweds John and Nicola Tams from Bonnyrigg.

Detectives are investigating how the driver’s Citreon C1 car mounted the kerb outside the couple’s romantic Capodimonte Hotel in Sorrento in the Campania area of the country in the early hours of July 9.

Nicola, 31, was left with four broken ribs while 30-year-old teacher John was induced into a potentially life-saving medical coma to be treated for horrific head and body injuries.

She has vowed to stay by husband John’s bedside at a hospital in Napoli until he is well enough to make the return journey to their home in Midlothian.

And Italian authorities revealed that they may also still be needed as witnesses to assist with an ongoing investigation into a young local man who has been charged with grievous bodily harm over the incident.

Thousands of operations cancelled every year

By Cara Sulieman

MORE THAN 600 operations are cancelled in Scotland a week, with a quarter of them being scrapped by the hospital.

NHS Fife chalked up the most, with 146 operations a week being called off.

Just over half of Fife’s cancellations were made by the hospital, and the other half by patients or “other miscellaneous reasons”.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde were next with 99 a week.

Schoolkids rub shoulders with stars

By Cara Sulieman

YOUNG filmmakers will be rubbing shoulders with the stars this week as their creations hit the film festival.

Schools across Edinburgh were asked to submit their drama, documentary and animation films to a competition that plays a staring role in the line up of this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Over 140 films were handed in by 38 institutions, including primary, secondary, nursery and special needs schools.

Forty of the best entries are being screened on Thursday and Friday night following the gala opening of the festival tonight.

Fife hospital needs to clean up act

By Cara Sulieman

A SCOTS hospital which suffered a series of superbug related deaths has been slammed over its poor hygiene levels in a damning new report.

The Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline, Fife, was slated by inspectors for filthy bedding and dangerously filled bins in a dossier of shame first published today (mon).

The Healthcare Environment Inspectorate said it found that bins earmarked for sharp items had been filled with other waste items, while there were needles protruding from full bins.

During their check visit on January 13 and 14, they were alarmed to find that front line mattresses – including those in A&E – badly contaminated but marked cleaned for use.

Scottish NHS Boards slammed by Ombudsman

By Cara Sulieman

SEVERAL Scots health boards have been slammed by the Public Services Ombudsman over a series of complaints by patients – on the same day that NHS Scotland was revealed as being the least efficient in the UK.

Jim Martin, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, has highlighted six cases where complaints were upheld against NHS Boards.

In his January report, which was delivered to the Scottish Parliament today (Weds), Mr Martin said that the cases “speak for themselves in the suffering many of them describe”.

The “stories of inconvenience, pain, distress and suffering” uncovered by the Ombudsman included an elderly woman with dementia who suffered in silence for two months before NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde finally diagnosed her broken leg.

Cancer patient stranded after string of cancelled flights

Left to right: Panos Vikis, Nicola McAndrew, Patricia and Alison Vikis

By Cara Sulieman

A CANCER patient was left facing a nightmare before Christmas after a catalogue of travel disasters.

First Patricia Vikis and her husband Panos were left stranded in Cyprus last Wednesday after the collapse of what was Scotland’s biggest airline Flyglobespan.

Disappointed but pragmatic, they instead booked a flight back with low-cost airline easyJet – on for that to be cancelled too owing to heavy snow.

And because the only seats they could get were to London, it meant they also had to cancel their connecting British Airways flight from Gatwick to Edinburgh.