10/10/2013 Reporting Scotland

Tonight, on Reporting Scotland: The energy firm SSE says sorry to

consumers as it puts up its prices by more than 8%.

I've figured is disgusting, I think they are high enough. I don't

believe anything when they see things will rise all the time, they

are greedy. Also in the programme.

The Commonwealth Games baton arrives back in Scotland as the search

begins for 4,000 batonbearers. The costs of setting up an oil fund

for Scotland clashes at Holyrood as the opposition claimed the

government downplayed its own advice.

A report describes the panic as passengers tried to escape from a

plane at Glasgow Airport last year. And as he trained for England's

crucial world cup qualifier, it has emerged that a young Wayne Rooney

was invited to play for Scotland. Good Evening.

Energy bills for ten of thousands of households across Scotland are set

to rise again, just as temperatures begin to fall. SSE, which owns

Scottish Hydro, says customers will see an average 8.2% rise in gas and

electricity prices from next month. Andrew Anderson reports. Feeling the

heat, Tom Armstrong is worried about the fuel bills he is facing. By

electricity is £55 per month, my gas bill is £164 per month and I must

pay monthly because I know what I am spending then. Otherwise, if you

save it up and it is a bad winter, the gas bill would be quite heavy.

The company which owns hydroelectric is raising their prices by just over

8%, that means an extra £106 per year for the dual fuel customers.

The average yearly cost will rise to £1380. At the company HQ they claim

the praise of buying and delivering wholesale energy and government

levies. I can honestly be absolutely clear, nobody in this country wanted

to make the announcement today, we recognise that times are difficult.

As a business, yes, we have announced the putting up prices in

November but we are mobilising the skills of our staff to help

customers on an individual basis make this -- make their way through

winter. Along the road there is little sympathy. It is disgusting,

really. I think they are high enough and the winters that we have, it is

pretty unfair. I have a pension for an aunt who lives with me and it is

a nightmare as it is to keep the house warm, so it will be worse. Is

everyone working for Brent's advantage or trying to line their

own pockets? Customers can switch their supplier, there are a number

of websites that will show deals on offer and with other energy economy

is expected to raise their prices in the weeks ahead, these websites

might well be busy. Consumer groups have condemned the praise increases,

one charity warns that single pensioners will suffer most.

Single pensioner households are disproportionately affected by fuel

poverty and pensioners are more than 50% of those in fuel poverty. It

will affect people on low incomes who are perhaps living in homes that

are not as energy-efficient as they could be. Energy companies say that

customers can come to them for help. Tom just wishes races would stop

going up. That is the view of customers, but

we have heard that SSE are blaming the price rises on wholesale energy

costs and government levies. Energy prices just keep burning more

and more of the household budget. While earnings have barely risen

over the downturn years, our average fuel bill is up 24% in four years.

Why? With today's announcement, SSE points to different parts of your

fuel bill. The cost of the actual energy makes up half of your bill,

and SSE says wholesale costs are going up 4%. The cost of getting it

to your home, by pipes and cables, and metering it, that's around

quarter of the bill. And with new investment to upgrade the grids,

that's up 10%. The government has imposed levies to subsidise green

generation, energy saving measures, and to help lower-income households.

That costs ten per cent of your bill, on average £110, and SSE says

that element is going up 13%. That's why the company is, unusually,

taking the fight over energy bills back to its political critics. The

UK government wants to force more effective competition into the

market, making it simple to switch providers. Labour leader Ed Miliband

recently pledged more radical action. If we win the election in

2015 the next Labour government will freeze gas and electricity prices

until the start of 2017. But SSE says it would be fairer to take the

green and social talents of your bill. The government 's charges are

going up 13% and our recommendation to get £110 off of everyone's bill

is to put that into general taxation and take it off energy accounts,

that effectively tax people who can afford it.

That is while it is widely expected the other big energy providers will

follow SSE's lead. Now, some say it is to make big profits. SSE says it

made a loss on supplying household energy in the first half of this

year. Yet it has told shareholders it will put up their dividends by

more than inflation. Over time, it is making around 5% in profits on

supplying homes. Along with the profits it makes on sourcing or

generating power, it says that's what's needed to build enough

capacity to keep us warm and the lights on in future.

After its ceremonial send off from Buckingham Palace, the Queens

Commonwealth Baton has returned briefly to Scotland. It will spend

40 days touring the country next summer and the search is now on for

4000 batonbearers to accompany it. Lisa Summers reports.

Chiefly this morning, the Commonwealth but travels to

sterling. The university campus you will become a training of 14

Scotland. Today it was the place where the bat on's domestic Brit was

announced. Alongside a campaign to recruit thousands of community back

and that. We are talking to organisations and territories around

the world to participate in the games. When it comes to Scotland we

are determined it is a community centre. We want all communities and

local authority areas in Scotland to nominate baton bearers. 100 baton

bearers will accompany the baton as it takes a 40 day to Scotland. For

the young athletes wanting to take a place it is a good opportunity to

think of the value of home support. I would be representing Scotland but

it would be good to get this tone of -- to get partly on the map.

Watching the Olympics in 2012 and seeing the support that all of the

athletes were given will make it extra special to me. There was

another brief stop at the city Chambers in Glasgow, the Queen's

Private message to the Commonwealth laptop as the bat on's centrepiece.

And then a taster of what is to come. Each of the Commonwealth

nations. We want to have as many people at it and see it, partly

owned it, so we can change the colour of the baton itself from the

pristine that it is at the moment so it will get shinier and darker with

all of the thousands of hands to touch it. Curators, the baton is

about to be loaded onto a flight, bound for Delhi. It is bound for the

countries taking part in the next -- taking part in the con love games.

The hope is that it will bring communities together as it embarks

on a 40 day journey and in Scotland in 287 days time.

You're watching Reporting Scotland from the BBC. Still to come on the

programme: Letting the train take the strain.

Moving whisky by rail to ease congestion on the A9.

And why this former badminton player and chairman of the British

-- and in sport, how close was when Rooney to playing for Scotland? The

former chairman of the British Olympic movement says it could stay

up to a decade until the legacy of Glasgow 2014 is felt.

There have been furious exchanges at Holyrood over claims that Ministers

downplayed advice from their officials about the costs of setting

up an oil fund. Labour's Johann Lamont landed in trouble with the

chair, as she accused the First Minister of "dishonesty". Alex

Salmond insisted Ministers had always been frank about the

challenges and the opportunities. Here's our Political Editor Brian

Taylor. Alex Salmond wants an oil fund,

money set aside from the North Sea for a long-term investment. But

Scotland's but it is in deficit and has been for some time. Civil

servants advised the First Minister has been for some time. Civil

last year that this this government says one thing in

private and another in public. Will the First Minister now come clean

with the people of Scotland? But what is in oil fund had been set up

in the 1980s, during the early boom? The civil servants Rickenbacker that

-- believe that by no instead of the death of £16 billion, Scotland could

have assets worth up to 117 billion. Alex Salmond said the very latest

advice from his fiscal commission was that such a fund was still

possible as long as Scotland's deficit was shrinking. He said oil

should not be squandered price. It is a huge advantage for the people

of Scotland, with that we had it over the past 40 years, we will

certainly have it over the next 40 years. But that simply angered

Johann Lamont more. Under years. But that simply angered

parliamentary rules, MS peas may not choose one another of lying. Johann

Lamont came very close. Honesty is not something this government deals

on. Johann Lamont, order! I think you should withdraw that. She duly

did. For the Tories, Ruth Davidson claims that all of the good news

from the civil servants had been published with the bad stuff dumped.

Mr Salmond said it was insulting the intelligence of Scotland to suggest

that oil was somehow a liability. A proposal to start flying the Union

Flag at a council headquarters ahead of the independence referendum has

been abandoned. Councillors in Stirling were due to debate the idea

this evening. The move would also have meant the traditional St

Andrews flag would not have been flown although this special council

Saltire would have remained. Several councils across Scotland fly union

flags but it is believed this was the first time in recent years when

a serious proposal was made to start flying one on political grounds.

An investigation's under way after an air ambulance left the runway at

Aberdeen International airport after landing. No-one was injured in the

incident, but other flights had to be suspended. The aircraft was

transferring a patient from Shetland. It apparently experienced

steering difficulties and ended up on the grass.

It took more than three and a half minutes to evacuate passengers from

the smoke-filled cabin of a plane at the centre of an emergency at

Glasgow Airport last year. The aircraft was on an early morning

flight to Spain. A report into the incident describes the panic, as the

passengers tried to get to safety. Sally McNair reports. 187 passengers

in a frantic struggle to get up a plane. Seconds 11 the jet had just

began moving for take-off when the flight crew noticed smoke was

filling the cabin. They said, vacate the plane. Hurry, hurry. Everybody

panicked. An elderly woman was seriously injured when she landed

badly on the tarmac. That was crazy. Look! To comply with federal

aviation requirements, the plane has to be keep all being evacuated in 90

seconds. In this case it took almost four minutes. The Ericsson

investigation Branch report said that the age of infirmity of some

passengers added to the delay. -- air investigation. They were told in

no uncertain cause region terms, just get out of the aircraft! --

Glaswegian. Excessive moisture in the air-conditioning system could

into blame for the smoke. The company has since amended its safety

advice and procedures. Other stories from across Scotland this Thursday:

IT services provider CGI is to open a software development centre in

Glasgow, creating nearly 250 skilled jobs during the next few years. The

Open Source Digital Services Centre, which will offer services to clients

in European public and commercial sectors, will open in 2014. It will

see the Canadian company nearly double its Scottish workforce within

three years. Two men have been convicted at the

High Court we are pleased to be creating these high-value roles in

Glasgow. They will be focused on new technology software. Not just for

Scotland but for the UK come these. Two men been convicted in the High

Court in Glasgow are carrying out an armed robbery which saw £400,000

worth of Rolex watches stolen. Cousins Alan Mitchell, who's 34, and

20-year-old Gary Mitchell, threatened staff with a machete at

Eric N Smith jewellers in Newton Mearns. Sentence on both men was

deferred. Mussel farming in Shetland should be

fully resumed within a few weeks. Harvesting was shut down in July,

when naturally occurring toxins reached a dangerous level and

seventy customers around London were poisoned. Toxin levels have now

fallen, and almost half the mussel farm areas in Shetland have now

reopened. Thieves have stolen 30 tonnes of

Railtrack from a yard in Aberdeen using an articulated lorry. It

happened in the early hours of Tuesday morning. British transport

police are appealing to anybody who saw a lorry in the area at the time

police are appealing to anybody who to get in touch.

Shetland Islands Council has decided to close one of its primary schools.

The Olnafirth School in Voe is just five miles away from the school in

Brae and councillors have decided they can save almost a £100,000 a

year by closing it. The eight pupils will be transferred to Brae next

autumn. A new sculpture has been erected

above the entrance to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in

Edinburgh. Made by Alexander Stoddart, it represents Clio - who

is the muse of History in Greek mythology. It replaces the original

figure of History which was weathered beyond repair.

And there are more stories from your area - and all the latest news, 24

hours a day on BBC Scotland's website.

Whisky distilled in Speyside is once again being transported to Central

Scotland by railway. It's aimed at reducing congestion and pollution on

roads like the A9, where one in every seven lorries is linked to the

whisky industry. Bulk whisky and spirit is normally moved 200 miles

by road to bottling plants and warehouses in the central belt.

Jackie O'Brien reports. 23,000 litres of whiskey are pumped into a

waiting tanker at Gilligan's distillery. -- Elgin's. But this

shipment which is bound for Grangemouth will not take the usual

long route south on the a 95. Instead it is stripping just a

couple of miles to Elgin railway station. Trains will replace lorries

in a government funded pilot scheme. We are trying to prove to distillers

that can work for them. There are clear environmental benefits. Carbon

dioxide savings in comparison with road movements. That is where we

have come from. Trying to support the aims of carbon reduction. Over

half of Scottish malt is produced and Speyside. A high number of

lorries on the local roads are linked to the whiskey industry. To

address that a group of distilleries have signed up to a trial which will

not be without challenges. We need to look at how feasible it will be.

The health and safety requirements. And how commercially feasible it

will be in the long-term. It has been 25 years since a significant

freight was moved out of Elgin station. It is all that this

initiative will encourage others to take to the tracks. -- hoped. We

will open discussions with food producers. There are significant

numbers of them in the area. And we will talk to supermarkets to see if

they can put containers on the trains. The train will still require

some old-fashioned manual assistance and keep running until November when

the results of the trial will be analysed to see if the business case

stacks up. Here's David now with the sport.

It's been revealed the England and Manchester United striker Wayne

Rooney was asked to play for Scotland. A former manager of our

national team says he approached Rooney early in his career. It comes

in a week when the question of national eligibility has become one

of football's big talking points. This is Rene training with England

today. -- Rooney. He has represented his country 84 times. But it appears

he could have played for Scotland. This man tried to make it happen.

Berti Vogts. Between 2002 and 2040 was the Scotland manager. He said:

the reply was: Well in addition to Wayne Rooney not playing for

Scotland - another English born player, Jordan Rhodes, won't be

playing for the national team either at Hampden on Tuesday night. It

elicited a drawl response from the current Scotland staff. Ridiculous.

He would never get in our team! A Manchester United youngster has

brought the issue to the fore because he can play for a number of

countries. In England and quiet if you would represent them under

five-year residency rules. But to play for the Scottish national team

you have two: there are not many players that

suddenly become available just because we render the rules a little

bit more. -- bend. The Blackburn striker, who's scored three times

for Scotland, has withdrawn from the squad for the final World Cup

qualifier against Croatia at Hampden because of a groin injury. Glasgow

City still have a good chance of reaching the last sixteen of the

womens Champions League. They drew 2-2 with Standard Liege in Belgium

travelling home this morning before beginning their preparations for

next Thursdays second leg.Something everyone at the club is looking

forward to. The Tory will be finished on the night. That is a

definite. -- tie. Some would love to see it go to penalty kicks, but not

me, to be honest. It will certainly be entertaining.

The former chairman of the British Olympic Association says it could

take up to a decade for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow to

deliver a legacy. Sir Craig Reedie was in Glasgow today inspecting the

refurbished home of Scottish badminton. He feels it's the type of

legacy that comes with hosting big events but that it takes a lot of

work from all involved. It is about infusing people about sport. That is

down to the city, the government, the sports bodies. They must all be

clear about what they're trying to achieve. It take years. It may take

ten years to fully deliver it. Thank you. It seems tartan is

enjoying a surge of popularity in the fashion world. And off the back

of the catwalks in Paris and Milan, Scottish businesses are benefiting

from substantial orders from high street retailers keen to get in on

the act, as Elizabeth Quigley reports. Woven locally, designed

locally, heading for the high Street. And in quantities that this

company has never seen before. All going to make bags and shoes. We

normally send out 20 or 30 little parcels of the day. The final tally

of 11,000 metres was far beyond our expectations. Possibly more than we

would sell in ten years. Chanel has already turned the catwalk tartan,

and Scottish fabrics turn up in the unlikeliest places. Make trainers.

-- Lakey. It is a much-needed boost to the industry. -- Nike. Tartan is

alive and well and everywhere you look it is they are. , football and

rugby matches. -- it is there. From the catwalk to the high street it

seems that tartan is putting Scotland very much on the map in the

fashion world. Elisabeth quickly, 44.

Here's Chris now with the weather forecast. Beautiful across the West.

Cool for the time of year. Maine is one last night in parts of the

usher. Clear skies and similar conditions in the countryside.

Beautiful sunshine across the West. Cloudy in the East. That is thanks

to high pressure. It is keeping us dry over the next few days. Tonight

it will be dry but Chile. One or two showers. Fading away. When is

finally easing down. A dry lake on the wall. Three to five Celsius in

the towns and cities. Close to freezing and related us with a

frost. A fairly chilly starting places tomorrow. Tension with

frosty. High-pressure steam with us. Settled, plenty of sunshine across

the West. The least, the skies are cloudier. A brief easterly flow of

the North Sea. Bringing moisture and cloud. Temperature rise, a living,

12, 13 Celsius. There are about. Thicker cloud towards Caithness,

Orkney and Shetland. Temperatures around about the 11 Celsius mark.

Afternoon and evening and overnight, staying dry. But it will be chilly.

Clear skies overnight. High-pressure continues to stay with us.

Continuing the dry conditions. To start the weekend, try and settled.

I repeat, really. Thick cloud to the East. Temperatures creeping up, 13

Celsius. A slight easterly flow, as I said. Then being influenced a

little bit more by low pressure. Wind increasing across the East

Coast. The best of the bright and sunny weather will be in the

Northwest. Some light rain in the East. Temperatures climbing. Close

to average at the time of year. 14 Celsius.

Now, a reminder of tonight's main news: Energy bills for ten of

thousands of households across Scotland are set to rise again, just

as temperatures begin to fall. SSE - which owns Scottish Hydro - says

customers will see an average 8.2% rise in gas and electricity prices

from next month. After its ceremonial send off from Buckingham

Palace, the Queens Commonwealth Baton has returned briefly to

Scotland. It will spend 40 days touring the country next summer and

the search is now on for 4000 baton bearers to accompany it. The UK

government has released details of its Royal Mail share offer. Small

investors have been favoured, nearly 700,000 will receive £750 worth of

shares each, although some who applied for larger amounts will end

up empty-handed. Amid huge public demand, critics say the government's

offer was far too cheap. That is reporting Scotland. Good night.