Susan Boyle in tears on train after standing up to taunts

By Christine Lavelle

CHART sensation Susan Boyle was driven to tears when a group of youths began taunting her as she caught the train home from Edinburgh’s city centre.

On Sunday afternoon Susan, 49, was traveling from Edinburgh to Bathgate on her way home to Blackburn in West Lothian, when the troublemakers started mocking her.

She is said to have remained dignified, but was visibly upset as the taunting got worse throughout the 30-minute journey.

The Britain’s Got Talent runner-up, who was traveling alone, reportedly hit back at the group, saying: “I’m normally patient but I am about to greet, greet, greet.

80 year-old loco steams to the rescue of stranded flyers

By Michael MacLeod and Cara Sulieman

IT goes at a top speed of 75mph, takes 11 hours to reach London, and stops for an hour in York.

But desperate business travellers turned to a steam train for salvation yesterday to help get them to London and beat a cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland which had left their planes stranded at Edinburgh Airport.

The “Coronation” cross-border pleasure journey steamed to the rescue on a scheduled run from Waverley Station in the Scottish capital as a handful of fed up flyers decided to let the train take the strain instead.

GE2010: Tories on track to turn back time on Scotland

Deadline reporter PAUL THORNTON joined SNP leader Alex Salmond for an interview on the campaign trail during his journey between Edinburgh and Glasgow as the countdown to polling continues.

THE SNP has warned that Scotland is on track to be dragged back into a Thatcher like era even if the Tories fail to win any seats north of the Border.

During a coast to coast rail journey between Edinburgh and Glasgow, Nats leader Alex Salmond said only the prospect of a hung Parliament through voting for his party could stop that from happening.

Mr Salmond said: “We are now certain that there are only two possible outcomes to this election.

“One is a balanced Parliament.

“But we also have to look at the possibility that there is a Tory government.

“We are hoping for a balanced Parliament because that would allow for a strong block of SNP and Plaid Cymru, a Celtic block to get success for Scotland.

“David Cameron has refused to answer the question whether he is going to tear up the funding formula and have a special Scottish cut in addition to all the other spending cuts.

“It is an incredible claim by the Conservatives that even if they get no MPs at all in Scotland they will rule the country on the back of anyone who votes Liberal or Labour.

“That is what Margaret Thatcher used to do in the 80s and David Cameron seems to want to take us back to the 1980s.

“What we have got from Labour now, it looks like the last desperate throw of the dice, if they had said this at the start of the campaign then there might have been some logic to it but now in the last few days it looks like ‘oh dear, we are getting beat what can we think of to try to prop up our position?’.

Two-Jags Prescott shuns his own “battle bus” for the train

By Michael MacLeod

LABOUR “dinosaur” MP John Prescott has come under fire from eco-campaigners for shunning his own “battle bus.”

The 71 year-old – once dubbed “two Jags” for having two cars – brought his “Prescott Express” campaign to Edinburgh today (Friday) – but arrived in the Scottish by a train from Wolverhampton.

Quizzed over the bizarre transport arrangements he insisted he couldn’t “just nip up” on the bus because politics was “about going everywhere.”

One Labour supporter at the campaign event at an Edinburgh Tesco said: “What’s the point in him having a battle bus if he doesn’t even travel about in it?”

Glasgow to London in three and a half hours

By Cara Sulieman

A TRAIN company have said that they can dramatically cut down the journey time between Scotland and London without installing a new costly high-speed track.

Virgin Trains claim that a series of improvements to the West Coast Main Line would make the Glasgow to Euston route a mere three and a half hours by 2018.

The company currently holds the franchise to provide intercity services on the route until 2012, and is preparing to bid for the contract again.

The planned improvements will form a vital part of their bid, but industry experts are warning that they may be too good to be true.

Track thief railroaded out of Scotland on bail

By Michael MacLeod

A SHERIFF has called for an investigation after man was caught trying to steal part of a railway track.

Lee Reap, 20, used a sledgehammer, an axe and other specialist rail cutting gear to try to remove “lucrative” metal parts of a train line running through Midlothian.

He claimed he thought the line was out of use after a friend told him he could “make a right bit of money” selling on the metal.

But yesterday at the Sheriff Court in Edinburgh, Sheriff Deirdre MacNeill QC said the track’s status was unclear and demanded a report.

Teenager fights for life following mystery accident

By Paul Thornton

A TEENAGER is battling for his life after a mystery accident at a busy train station.

The 19-year-old man, who has not been named, was found by Network Rail staff at Waverley Station in Edinburgh at around 5.30am on Thursday, December 10.

It is feared he may have fallen from Waverley Bride, or been struck by a train – or both, and police are appealing for witnesses.

Paramedics raced him to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary to be treated for serious head and leg injuries and ambulance staff said he was in a critical condition.

Floods hit Scotland

By Cara Sulieman and Rory Reynolds

TORRENTIAL rain and flooding across parts of Scotland were feared to have claimed the life of at least one man today (thurs) – with forecasters warning of more bad weather to come over the weekend.

At least 20 rivers were last night subject to flood watches as heavy rainfall led to considerable train disruption and several key roads – including the A1 between Scotland and England – being closed to traffic.

In West Lothian police and RAF search and rescue teams spent several hours searching the swollen River Almond near Livingston after reports of a man falling into the fast-flowing waters.

A distraught member of the public called Lothian and Borders Police at 9am to say that they had seen the man fall into the river from a footbridge in the Kirkton area of the town.

Scotland’s crime-ridden train network

By Cara Sulieman

SCOTLAND’S sprawling network of trains and stations are being plagued by drug dealers, drunkards and sex attackers, shock new figures reveal.

Hard pressed officers from British Transport Police are now dealing with almost 7000 different crimes every year – with city centre stations the main battleground.

A total of 6978 offences were committed under their jurisdiction. Of those, a staggering 1482 serious crimes and 2870 petty offences actually happened aboard rail or subway carriages last year.

Scotland’s most dangerous station has been revealed as Glasgow Central – with a frightening 548 crimes reported there between 2007 and 2008.

Rise in Scottish drug deaths blamed on Trainspotting generation

By Cara Sulieman

A MASSIVE hike in the number of drugs related deaths across Scotland is being blamed on the nation’s Trainspotting generation – addicts who began shooting up in the 80’s.

Shock new figures showed a rise of people in their late 30s to early 40s – mostly men – dying from the effects of years of drug use and a lack of support services for their age group.

In all drug deaths rose 26 per cent to 576.

As with previous years, the vast majority of drug users dying are men – an overwhelming 80 per cent.