Lollipop men to use spy cameras to catch dangerous drivers

Robert Purves tries out his new lollipop stick

By Cara Sulieman

CAMERAS hidden inside the sticks used by lollipop men are being used by a Scots council to catch dangerous drivers.

The video pole was introduced by East Lothian Council today in a bid to make their crossing guides’ jobs safer.

The £1,050 poles are automatically activated when held upright, snapping the registration plates of any vehicles that fail to stop.

Robert Purves, 63, works as a crossing guide on Station Road in Haddington and hopes the new kit will help avoid a repeat of near misses he has had in the past.

Scottish police to use spy planes

By Cara Sulieman

SCOTTISH police forces could soon be using unmanned spy planes to keep tabs on citizens in a bid to crack down on crime.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles have already been trialled by Strathclyde Police who used one in rescue operations in rural Argyll.

And Scotland’s largest police force is keen to be at the forefront of the new technology, which is being looked at by all forces in the UK.

The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland has joined forces with their English counterpart to form the Unmanned Aerial Systems Steering Group, who meets regularly to discuss the use of the planes, and report to the Home Office.

Paintball fraudster got tax cash helping hand

By Michael MacLeod

SCOTTISH Enterprise has come under fire for dishing out £30,000 to help a Scots paintball company run by a convicted fraudster.

Edinburgh-based Bedlam Paintball got taxpayer-funded help to develop its “brand strategy” in 2007.

But there are calls for the quango to review its background checks after it emerged Bedlam’s owner Roman Rock, 49, was jailed for three years in 1997 for his part in a £100,000 credit card fraud.

Central Scotland MSP John Wilson said Scottish Enterprise had “failured to learn lessons from previous cases where it has given support to companies run by people with dubious backgrounds.”

But Rock, real name Jan, insisted he had turned his business dealings around since his prison spell for the scam.