19/02/2016 Reporting Scotland

David Cameron needs. That's it from the BBC News at six and now news

from the teams where you are. After almost three months

of travel disruption, the Forth Road Bridge will re-open

fully this weekend. More talks on the future financial

arrangements for Holyrood with indications of some

progress being made. No second trial for a man acquitted

of murdering this Lanarkshire woman, after judges reject a legal bid

to submit new evidence. If I didn't have my car, I couldn't

have an active social work and I couldn't work and care for my

family. Mo Farah is in Glasgow for the first

big athletics meeting of the year - we hear what he thinks

of the sport's drugs cheats. The Forth Road Bridge will fully

reopen to all traffic this weekend. It's 11 weeks since a crack forced

the main route between Fife While cars and light vehicles have

been allowed back on the bridge since Christmas, it's now reopening

to all traffic, Finally,

Bridge are said to be a Finally,

past. On the south tower, Finally,

working to one final repair, jacking up of 400 tonne section of

carriageway, to allow strengthening cables to take the weight. Once

completed, the big beasts of the road, HGVs, will be welcome at any

time. This will now carry the load is generated by the traffic. We also

did a full bridge inspection during December when the bridge was closed

and no structural defects were found, so we know with absolute

confidence, the bridge can we opened to traffic. The Bridge saga

began at the end of December, crack in the steelwork forcing its

complete closure. After three weeks, cars and vans were allowed back on,

following temporary repairs. Drivers were frustrated to be told that

mid-March was the full opening until a change. Six out of eight days in

January were lost as storms battered the country that since then

engineers have been able to work unhindered. Part of the reason why

haulier Phil Henderson can once again start planning to use the

shortest route for journeys to the North. From a business point of view

it has cost us a lot of extra money, having to go round the long way

rather than straight over the Forth Road Bridge. It is good now that it

is back open, just a pity it has taken two months to get there. The

Road haulage Association estimates the extra cost at eight to ?10,000 a

week for their members, and point to the financial relief offered to

those affected by flooding. We will continue to talk to the sector about

the impact the disruptions have had on them, but as Transport Minister

the number one thing they asked me to do is to fix the bridge and now

we are a day away to the bridge being fully opened to that sector.

Ready to take the strain of east coast traffic again until its new

neighbour is completed. While David Cameron carries

on negotiations in Europe, the Scottish and UK governments have

been at the Treasury in London, continuing to thrash out a deal

on a financial settlement to underpin new powers

for the Scottish Parliament. Both sides say progress has been

made and talks will continue Our political correspondent

Nick Eardley has been keeping an eye Nick, these talks have been

going on for months now. That is right. These talks are

extremely important, and that is one of the main reasons they have been

taking so long. When Scotland gets more powers over taxes, the amount

of money it gets back from Westminster will be reduced. One of

the key discussions over the three weeks has been how much money it

will be reduced by in the coming years. Today, Chancellor George

Osborne intervened in the talks for the first time. Both sides are

suggesting that could be a significant move. It could help them

find the breakthrough they are looking for. I think the tone

tonight has been more positive than it has been in recent weeks. Let's

listen to what both sides have said. I have had productive discussions

with the Treasury. We have had some progress but we have not yet been

able to reach an overall agreement that could be secured and supported

by both governments. We are continuing to discuss the

outstanding issues and further work will be undertaken by our officials

in the course of the next few days. Today's talks looked at a number of

areas. I think we are focused on what the issues are. The Scottish

Government and UK Government will be looking at these over the weekend. I

hope they will come up with a productive solution to allow the

steel to finally be done. Both sides sounding a little more positive,

what happens now then. As David Mundell said, both groups will talk

at the weekend. There is a deadline of Tuesday when Holyrood wants to

scrutinise the plans. It is fair to say anything can happen in politics.

As the EU talks Tonight Show, nothing is guaranteed, but I get the

impression things are a little more positive.

You're watching Reporting Scotland from the BBC.

Still to come on tonight's programme:

The road trip to document the state of Scottish traditional music that

In sport: Mo Farah's in Glasgow - and talking tough on drugs cheats.

We'll also hear from the Dundee United man who says some

And speaking to the athlete who's had to give up on his Olympic dream.

Prosecutors have failed in a bid to bring a man to trial

for the second time for the murder of a Lanarkshire woman.

Francis Auld was acquitted of the murder of Amanda Duffy

Three judges rejected an attempt by prosecutors to use so-called

"double jeopardy" legislation to submit new evidence.

Amanda Duffy was on her way home from a night out on May 30 1992. The

drama student was 19 when she was killed. Her badly beaten body was

discovered in wasteland near a car park in Hamilton. 19-year-old

Francis Auld was acquitted of her murder later that year. Almost 25

years later, the Crown used double jeopardy legislation to try and

secure a retrial. Double jeopardy changed in 2011. Until then, a

person could not be tried twice for the same offence. Now, exceptions

can be made. The trial of Angus Sinclair for the worlds and murders

was the first in Scotland to use the new rules. The Francis Auld case was

the third time double jeopardy has been used. The prosecutor had to

show that compelling new evidence had come to light, that if it had

been considered at the original trial, may have left the jury to

convicted. Prosecutors said Francis Auld had admitted to killing Amanda

Duffy on a number of occasions but the Court of Appeal rejected that.

Francis Auld's lawyers issued a statement saying he was pleased

there was no evidence to overturn his acquittal. This is the first

time a double jeopardy application has been rejected. The hearing

lasted only a few minutes. Amanda's family left the court too upset to

comment. Judges have rejected a legal

challenge which would have forced Scotland's senior law officer

to publish guidance over prosecution He was concerned anyone who helped

him end his life But in their judgement the Court

of Session said it would only be a crime if the act of assistance

was the immediate and direct cause UK Government changes to welfare

mean that some disabled people are losing their cars under

the Motability scheme. 70,000 people in Scotland receive

payments to help with cars and electric wheelchairs,

but people are now being reassessed for the new Personal

Independent Payment, which replaces Disabled

Living Allowance. Our reporter Ian Hamilton

meets one disabled woman, who's had a Motability

car for 26 years. Gillian has been on the Motability

scheme for 26 years. She says without her car, life would be very

difficult. I have a weakness of the left side of my body. If I did not

have my car, I could not have an active social life, and I

have my car, I could not have an work and care for my family. I have

a caliper on my leg... Gillian was born with cerebral palsy, she also

has arthritis along with other health problems. She finds it hard

to walk any distance. Gillian made a mistake when applying for the new

benefit personal independence payment which replaces disability

living allowance. She picked the wrong box. She ticked box which said

she could walk between 20 and 50 metres, in fact, she can only walk

up to 20 metres. They would not let her make a change so her car is

having to go back. It is not only disabled people who are concerned

about the changes to benefits. The motor trade are also concerned.

28,000 cars sold last year were on the Motability scheme. If the PIP

scheme cuts people out of the system then those people may well have to

call on local authority money or local council money for taxis or bus

services and the rest of it. I put it to the Department for Work and

Pensions, would it not make more economic sense to let disabled

people hold onto their vehicle until after the appeal. No one was

available until after -- no one was available for interview but they

told be in a statement... Gillian hoped she would get a

previous until after her appeal but sadly not, her car is back here

today at the dealership. Due to some mishap on my part, it means that the

DWP are now taking it back and I just have to accept it, but I am

going to appeal. That appeal could take up to 16 weeks.

We do have an update on that story. Ian filmed with Gillian this

morning returning her car. She was contacted by the Department

for Work and Pensions late this afternoon to say that she will be

allowed back on to the Motability scheme, as soon as the

paperwork is processed. A 24-year-old man, who attempted

to murder his classmate at Blair Drummond Safari Park,

has been jailed for two years. Christopher Blaikie stabbed

Claire Mazzucchi in the neck with a knife during a field trip

to study the behaviour of animals. A court heard that the psychology

student had been suffering obsessive thoughts before the attack

on the 13th of March last year. A look at other stories

from across the country: One of the North Sea's leading oil

services firms is cutting the pay of around a third of its contractors.

It is the third such move from Ewood group in three years. It is due to

changes affecting the oil and gas sector.

Police are urging anyone going into the hills in the Ben Nevis area to

report anything which might help in the search for the missing Bradford

couple Tim Newton and Rachel Slater. Rescue teams could not renew their

efforts today because of the weather. The climbers have not been

seen since last weekend. A climber who died in avalanche on

Wednesday has been named as 54-year-old David bank cut from

Derbyshire. A coastguard helicopter searched for the capital on --

searching for the capital on Ben Nevis was diverted to search.

Staff at the Highland wildlife park have moved a specially built crate

into place which will be used to take a male polar bear to be in

closure of his breeding partner a mile away. Currently, males are

housed together, always living apart from females. When putting animals

together, particularly large predators, there is always the

possibility it can go quite spectacularly wrong. Obviously, we

are going down a natural mating route and we will not have to resort

to artificial insemination. Police removed a swan from Glasgow

motorway after it wandered onto the southbound carriageway. Motorists

had to slow down to avoid it on the 74. All three lanes were restricted

for about 15 minutes while police rounded up the bird and took it away

in their patrol car. Let's get all the sports

news now, from David. Some of the world's best athletes

are here for the first big track But the Glasgow Indoor grand prix

takes place amid controversy over Russia's already prohibited

from international competitions - now Kenya faces a ban for failing

to deal with drugs cheats. Today Britain's most famous runner

called for examples to be made The man on his mobile is a superstar

of sport. Come on, Mo Farah! Mo Farah is going to make it two gold

medals for Great Britain! Beautiful! Defending his Olympic

5000 and 10,000 metre titles in Rio, could prove more straightforward

than Mo Farah envisaged. A concern that Kenya may not be allowed to

compete in the Olympics, do you have a thought on that? If it is Kenya,

it makes things easier for me! I don't wish any athlete who have not

done anything wrong, to be out of competing, but they have to follow

the rules. Adam Gemili is back for the indoor Grand Prix. He shares Mo

Farah's view on dealing with doping. They can start to clean up the sport

and eliminate the cheaters, so we can go and put in some big

performances for the crowd and really try and hopefully one young

kid looks at the performances and thinks, that is what I want to do,

is not determined by any of that stuff and we can show them we can do

it the right way. There is still some work to be done to get the

arena ready for this weekend's big event, plenty more to be done to

clean up the image of athletics before Rio.

Mark Warburton says he would like to see an end to artificial

The Rangers manager says the synthetic pitch at Kilmarnock

contributed to the injury his striker Martyn Waghorn picked up

in their Scottish Cup match during the week.

Kilmarnock say suggestions their pitch is to blame are ill-informed.

Dundee United's John Rankin says players at the club have

The Tannadice outfit remain rooted to the bottom of the Premiership -

It follows chairman Stephen Thomson's statement

are failing miserably, and have been abysmal.

The United boss taking on the media head-on and admitting that jobs

including his own art on the line if the club are relegated. -- are on

the line. The results have not been good enough. No one is happy with

this situation. We all realise we need to do better. Are you fearing

for your job? I am just concentrating on doing my job to the

best of my ability. It is not for me to decide. It has been a fairly

turbulent five months since taking the reins at Tannadice. They were

four points adrift in October but despite seven new players only nine

points were gained in the following 15 league games. Relegation to the

Championship is now staring them in the face. In the City there is some

sympathy for the under fire boss. It is a very hard job. It is a last

gasp for him to try to recover. Good luck. Perhaps it's a bit of a

thankless task. He has a hard job on his hands. I can't even recognise

the players there. They are all new players and they are hopeless. One

senior pro at the club has questioned commitment of some of his

team-mates. There are players in there that will wholly admit that

things are not going their way, and when it is that way they will down

tools and that is human nature. We need strength of character. People

to stand up and fight, whether it is me and other experienced players, we

need every player giving 100%. In the City that brought us the Beano

and dandy it is now desperate times for all at United.

Tonight's Premiership match between Partick Thistle and Aberdeen

The decision was made late this afternoon,

It's the fourth time a match has been called off

Glasgow's rugby meeting with Munster and Edinburgh's trip to Ospreys

That's on BBC Radio Scotland, the programme's already underway.

The Scottish Paralympian David Smith says he could have died on his bike

if he delayed surgery on a spinal tumour in order to compete

The Aviemore man was hoping to be part of the Great Britain

Para-cycling team after winning rowing gold four years ago.

But he's been told he must stop to have the surgery.

Let's go. Until last week David Smith was training hard for the Rio

Paralympics, he knew that he had a tune in his spine and delayed

treatment. It has continued to grow and his sporting dreams must now

end. I feel really strong and healthy, so to sit and seeing if I

don't survive, this is what I wanted to happen. It's a really surreal

moment. Everything is telling me to jump on a plane and don't go into

surgery and it's hard to go to the hospital feeling so healthy. Going

under anaesthetic, feeling it going in and closing your eyes and not

knowing if you will ever open them again. Smith now fears for his

health and indeed his life, his sporting loss has also had an

impact. Everyone in British sport is training for Rio and just to have

had the opportunity even to show what I could have done when it came

to cycling, it was not about winning another gold medal, it is just that

I love cycling. For that to be taken away... I think it is tough. The

risks of forthcoming surgery are huge, it's a path he has enjoyed

before, but he admits he is vulnerable. One touch of the wrong

nerve could stop you breathing, and you wake up and you can't move from

the neck down and you are on a ventilator for the rest of your

life. To stand here really healthy, knowing that on the 2nd of March

that could be it, it's a really... It makes this ten days very

difficult. We wished David the very best. Thanks very much, David. -- we

wish him. In a countrywide tour. An unexpected encounter with the folk

singer Sheila Stewart sent the tour and the subsequent film in a

different direction. Pauline McClane reports. Two years ago Aidan Moffat

set off on a journey around Scotland to examine the state of traditional

music and sing a few songs of his own. Well, I was not intending to be

in it very much to start with, the plan was that it would be more about

the people we met and we would tell stories and just hang that on the

framework of the tour. People like Sheila Stewart, the last

in a long line of travellers for whom folk songs were precious legacy

and she did not like Aidan's attempts to modernise them. Aidan

and Sheila, there was definite parallels between what they did.

There was eight reverends versus irreverence, modern against

tradition. -- a reverence. My ballads are like that. The result is

a compelling documentary in which Aidan and Sheila battle it out over

true traditions. Because she knew she was the last in her family she

was very protective, especially that one song that she always ended her

sets with. Jihadist wrong connection with her mum through that song and I

think I just picked the one song that was going to upset her the

most. Sheila died before the film was released so it is something of a

swansong, and now they will retrace their steps to stage the song at the

same venues around the country, starting with the sell-out Premier

as part of the Glasgow film Festival.

What can we expect from the weekend weather?

Here is Chris. It's not looking good, I have to say. Thanks very

much. This weekend, showery, cold, windy and some of the showers will

be wintry. Not only in the hills but occasionally lower levels as well.

Quite chilly feel through Saturday and Sunday. Because of the wintry

nurse, we do actually have warnings in force. Courtesy of low pressure

to the north, cold air coming in from the West driving showers in and

they will be frequent and heavy at times. There is a yellow warning for

the risk of snow and ice primarily for areas north and west of the

Central Belt. This evening the showers get going and the winds

strengthened from the West. For the central belt southwards, most of the

snow will be across higher ground but for the North it will be too

higher levels. There will be eight subzero temperature in the north and

just above that in the south and west. Frequent showers heavy at

times, and fairly significant snow across parts of the north-west,

right down to sea level away from the coast. For the central belt and

south there will be rain from any and some snow on the hills. For-6

Celsius and it will feel cold in the wind. They are showers, some dry

interludes at times and the best in Fife, Angus and Aberdeenshire.

Difficult conditions on the roads, icy underfoot on untreated surfaces

and also with a risk of hail and thunder in the mix. For hill walkers

and climbers, frequent snow showers with wins around 70 mph. White out

conditions as the showers pass through. Perhaps something lighter

in the border hills but still the wintry nature. As we head into the

evening we hold onto that windy, showery theme, again it will be

wintry across the North and north-west and the warning will

still be in force. Drier conditions at times. On Sunday the low pressure

is still with us, we will still see a lot of showers but perhaps a

little less frequent compared with Saturday. More in the way of dry

interludes and longer as well. Still chilly, and on the wind it will feel

fairly cool. On Monday it will be more settled, thankfully.

Thanks very much. A reminder of the main news, David Cameron has

cancelled plans for a Cabinet meeting as talks in Brussels about

reform of the EU membership continues. Mr Cameron says he is

determined to improve the terms of our membership. The Forth Road

Bridge will open to all traffic this weekend, 11 weeks after a crack

forced it to close. It opened two cars and light vehicles at

Christmas. I'll be back with the headlines

at 8, and the late bulletin Until then, from everyone

on the team - right across the country -

have a very good evening. You could sprint your way

to the end. Good luck.