03/08/2016 Reporting Scotland

Cutting emergency services at Monklands hospitals could put

patient safety at risk - says one of their top consultants.

If you have an A Department you must have another Tab Ahmad

attached, you cannot just have the A department and expect all of the

trauma treated there. -- Department. We'll be asking - will this

intervention make any difference to the governments' plans

to move these services? Rail strike plans for this

weekend are put on hold - as talks between the RMT

and Scotrail continue. along with his 12 passengers -

after his vehicle became stranded in flood water -

has been convicted of careless As the first commercial mine

in the Highlands displays its wares. And a Scot will carry the British

flag and lead out Team GB during Friday's opening ceremony here at

the Rio Olympics. Andy Murray has been given that on a.

A surgeon at one of Scotland's busiest hospitals says people

attending Monklands A will have to go elsewhere for a emergency

treatments if local health board approve dot-mac proposals are

approved. Lucy Adams reports. Is the hospital the current

government fought to save. It is this man's view that the decision to

close the hospital Monklands was wrong and it will now be reversed.

The hospital the former Health Secretary almost lost his job over.

NHS Lanarkshire have a meeting on Thursday. And is the hospital

patients have pledged to save. Now, though, there is anger as

campaigners say the Scottish Government is backsliding on earlier

pledges with moves afoot to cut orthopaedics and trauma, and move

services elsewhere. Those plans are also opposed by the consultants

themselves, saying patient safety will suffer. Patient safety will be

put at risk by their decision to close Monklands. If you have an A

department, you must have an orthopaedic department attached to

it. You cannot have just an A department and expect all of the

trauma to be treated there. At a meeting today between staff and the

local MSP Alex Neil, they tried to map out a way forward. Mr Neal stood

on a ticket to save services and is under pressure to deliver. I'm

absolutely determined, as I know Shona Robison, the health minister

is, determined to make sure there is no downgrading of Monklands, no

downgrading of the accident and emergency in Monklands. The health

board argued that is not what they are doing but as I say there are too

many unanswered questions for this to go ahead in its present form. The

Scottish Government say they saved the A department here and that

they will protect it. We are confident, as are the medical Royal

colleges, that safety will be improved, quality will be improved

by these changes, change is hard, change is not always universally

accepted. But we believe that orthopaedic care it in NHS

Lanarkshire will be improved by this. Lucy, medical issues aside,

this is a hospital that keeps finding itself at the heart of local

and national political battles. It does indeed. For those living in the

area this is their local hospital, their local concerns about where

they are going for their health care. But as we said in the piece,

it has far wider political ramifications because it was Nicola

Sturgeon as the former Health Secretary, who made that decision in

regard to the accident and emergency Department. We have to be clear that

the decision has been made by the health board that these changes will

go ahead. It's not the Scottish Government. The Scottish Government

say they have received assurances that patient safety will not be put

at risk and they say things will be improved. But some of the local

campaigners, staff, and as we have seen today, consultants, say they

believe this has been done for financial reasons and at the expense

of the local population. They have concerns that those national

politicians are not listening to them. Di Canio said today they

should not go ahead until some of these answers are delivered from the

health board and some of these concerns are dealt with. Rash Alex

the bus driver who drove into floods resulting in everyone on board

having to be rescued by helicopter has escaped a driving ban.

Tudor Davies had faced a dangerous driving charge but after a trial

at Ayr Sheriff Court he was convicted of the lesser

He has already been dismissed by Stagecoach bus company.

A rescue helicopter hovering over a bus stranded in a torrent of flood

water. The number 58 bus was on its way to Ayr as a storm raged. The

driver, Tudor Davies told the court when he got the outskirts of the

village was already 4-5 inches of floodwater on the road and stopped

to assess the situation and pressed on. Mr Davies said 10-15 yards

later, when he was around here, the force of the water knocked down this

wall producing an enormous surge of floodwater which picked the bus up,

took it across the road and slammed it into those trees, breaking

windows and forcing the door open. These pictures taken inside the bus

show how quickly the water then poured in. Moments after these were

taken, the 12 passengers on board, including two children, headed to

the back of the bus and climbed on seats and grab bars to try to keep

as much as possible out of the filthy floodwater. Attempts by the

Fire Service to rescue them were abandoned due to the ferocity of the

water, and it was hours later before they could all be winched off. This

very relieved passenger spoke to me after her rescue. The water came on

the bus, it just came up and up, and got to the windows and it was like

big waves. You could see the current, it was very scary. Sheriff

to the acknowledged that this was a traumatic event for the passengers

on the bus and for the driver. In fact, she said some of the

passengers who had come to give evidence were still traumatised. But

she said the danger of the wall collapsing was not obvious to Mr

Davies at the time, and so she could not convicted of dangerous driving,

instead she convicted him of careless driving. She imposed nine

penalty points on his licence and fined him ?2000. That decision to

drive forward, the sheriff said, was a significant error of judgment.

Aileen Clarke, Reporting Scotland. The oil company Wood Group is

accusing unions of reneging on an agreement which could have seen a

48-hour strike by workers in the North Sea being called off.

Last-minute talks between the two sides collapsed late last night.

Fiona has the latest. Good evening, Jackie. This dispute

and efforts to resolve it have gone on for some time. Last week members

of the RMT and Unite union walked out for 24 hours. The first stoppage

of its kind that the North Sea has seen since the 1980s. The dispute

centres on Wood Group's plans to cut pay and allowances for around 350

workers. They cover around seven Shelf platforms. That dispute is set

to escalate after talks broke down. A 48-hour stoppage from tomorrow

morning. Both sides seemed as though they wanted to end it, but this is

the problem, the unions wanted Wood Group to remove the proposals, to

take them off the table altogether. Wood Group said they would go as far

as suspending implementing the cuts to pay. The unions weren't happy,

this is what both sides were saying to night. We are looking to actually

start on this, have full involvement from the workforce and how the

changes will affect them. To do that we need to put aside what has been

done previously and start fresh. Why do people want to strike when we

have offered to keep the negotiation going and continue the dialogue to

get to a position that will solve this. I do not have a clear mandate

from the unions that says, if you give me this we will be happy.

And the unions have told us to night that further strike action is highly

likely, unless this dispute can be resolved. Shell, who own the

platforms where the strikes have been taking place say they are

deeply disappointed that the strike is going ahead. They say that the

North Sea oil and gas industry is facing unprecedented challenges. If

you look at what is happening to the oil price over the last month, there

has been a steady decline, it has gone from around $50 to $42 today.

So it doesn't look as though these gone from around $50 to $42 today.

challenges are going to get any easier.

This is Reporting Scotland, still to come on the programme. Small but

perfectly formed, the first commercial gold mine in the

Highlands displays its wares. And Australian family living in the

Highlands say they are still hopeful of being allowed to stay despite a

letter from the Home Office warning that official moves are being made

to repatriate them. The Brain family moved to Scotland under a Visa

system that has been abolished since. They are pinning their hopes

on a last-minute job offer that would meet immigration rules. Craig

Anderson reports. It's a litter the Brain family hoped

they would never see, from Immigration Minister Robert

Goodwill, it says there are no exceptional circumstances and that

staff will contact the couple later this week to discuss arrangements

for their voluntary return to Australia. The Visa scheme they came

here and was done away with once they had committed to emigrate to

Scotland and they insist they are not pleading for special treatment,

just for the government to honour its word.

All of our home and worldly goods are on a shipping container halfway

across to Scotland when this apparent announcement came out

saying they would be cancelling this Visa option 12 months after we had

arrived. By then we were fully committed to the process. There was

no backing out. So we're not asking for special treatment, we're just

asking the government to honour what they put in the brochure, so to

speak. The couple's MP argues that unlike

many people hoping to gain residency in the UK, the Brains are in a

unique situation and the Home Office is guilty of bad faith in their

dealings with them. The government in London should do

what is right, it's not about a special case, it is giving the

rights they should have gone making sure the family can get back to

work. We need young families in the Highlands, while would the

government want to throw them out? Is disgraceful and shouldn't be

allowed to happen. It was Kathryn Brain's student Visa that initially

allowed the family to come here, and the one hope they now have is that

even while the Home Office's deportation wheels are turning, that

she received the offer of a job that needs immigration requirements.

We've had a contact from a major Scottish employer this morning. Or

at least from the office, the CEO will call us this afternoon. We

don't know what the job offer is, we don't know whether it would fit Visa

requirements, the fact it comes from a major company, would like to think

they would be able to inform themselves of the requirements and

it gives us some cause for cautious optimism.

But for now, living on charity and with their belongings in a shipping

container, the future path for the Brain family is uncertain. Craig

Anderson, Reporting Scotland, Dingwall. Another series of strikes

by Scot rail workers planned to begin at the weekend has been

suspended to allow for further talks.

Members of the RMT union had been due to take part in three 48-hour

walkouts in a row over the role of staff and who open

Since June there have been 11 days of industrial action and disruption

to journeys up-and-down the country. The dispute focuses on the role of

trained staff and specifically proposed changes to the role of

train guards. Earlier today members of the RMT union met in Glasgow to

consider the latest proposal from ScotRail management. As a result of

that meeting planned strikes for this weekend and next weekend have

been suspended. Progress has been made but there is still a lot to be

done. We have not received guarantees about the guard remaining

on the train. The outstanding issue for us is the doors, who actually

controls the doors. That's an issue that we need to have further

discussion with ScotRail in order to find a way forward on the train

dispatch, the doors. Today's suspension of strike action is very

welcome for all of us. After several weeks of hard work, we're not there

yet, a lot of hard work still to do, but a great step forward. It was

always about our customers and our people. And I think it's a good sign

for what we can agree. The next step will be further talks

between the RMT and ScotRail, aimed at by Na Li drawing a line under the

dispute. Those have still to be scheduled, but in the meantime

passengers up-and-down the country will be able to travel knowing their

journey will not be disrupted by a strike. -- finally drawing.

Bank of Scotland is closing 23 branches

It says the move is a result of falling customer demand

and because of overlaps with other nearby branches.

Closures will take place in the Highlands, the North East,

Tayside, the central belt and the borders.

A goldmine in the Highlands today marked its first pouring

The gold bar may have been less than ten ounces in weight,

but this is a project with big ambitions.

Our business and economy editor, Douglas Fraser, reports.

Eureka, it's not quite a Klondike Gold rush yet but it's a start, with

this gold mine in the Central highlands. They took on the

challenge in nine years ago after a lot of planning delays and

difficulty with finance its now processing, or it has reached the

first port of gold and today's official opening. How has it been

done? Thousands of tonnes of this gold or have been taken from a

tunnel just near here, stored outside, brought into a shed, their

equipment is used to drop it, spin it around, crush it, hammer it,

bring it to this table, like a mechanical version of an

old-fashioned gold pan, separating gold and IM from fools Gold. More

than 2000 tonnes of rock comes down to what they hope is 15 kilograms of

this pure gold. That's just the start. The plan is for more than

half a million tonnes to be mined, processed by a team of 60 people,

resulting in at least six tonnes of gold. At present values that would

be worth more than ?200 million. Over 200 years ago these hills were

producing lead and zinc. It has taken a while to get at this point.

1980s technology is now revealing just how big a fortune lies inside.

So, don't hold your breath for the next bit, but the company recently

got a licence to survey gold prospects from the Argyll coasts all

the way across. This particular area that runs through Scotland, this

swathe, is of the right age to be respected for Gold. We know in the

other parts of the world rocks of the same age have gold deposits and

base metal deposits. Problems getting finance have been

linked to the volatile price over the past ten years, ranging from 600

US dollars per ounce to nearly $1800. But there is a ready market

for Scotland's first commercially mined gold. We need to find out just

what sort of premium retailers believe that consumers will pay for

that provenance. But we might expect to see ten, 15% above the value of

standard gold. And that goes for at least twice as

much Silva that should be in that ore too. Mining Silva and gold in

Scotland is a fantastic idea and I'm really looking forward to getting my

hands on some before Christmas. At a time of economic uncertainty, this

is at least one nugget of hope. Douglas Fraser, Reporting Scotland.

A look at other stories from across the country.

An Easyjet flight from Edinburgh to Madeira was forced to divert six

hundred miles to Lisbon in Portugal because of a disruptive passenger.

Reports that the passenger claimed to have had a gun on board Monday's

flight have not been confirmed by the airline.

The plane was met by police in Lisbon and then

flew on to Funchal, after a two-hour delay.

Easyjet apologised for the inconvenience but said

they don't tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour.

The Scottish firm Aggreko has reported a fall in profits

It made ?61 million, compared to 102 million in the same

The Glasgow-based firm says the trading environment has been

difficult, with the lower oil price continuing to impact

An inspection of Raigmore Hospital in Inverness found a significant

improvement in the cleanliness of its emergency department.

The Healthcare Environment Inspectorate carried out

the unannounced check in May, and says the standard of cleanliness

in the wards and the theatre department were also good and staff

generally demonstrated good compliance with hand hygiene.

The Emirates Arena in Glasgow will host next month's

Davis Cup semi-final between Great Britain and Argentina.

The tie will be played at the 8,000-capacity

The British team won two ties there in their victorious Davis Cup

Football, and Celtic's pursuit of a place in this

season's European Champions League continues tonight.

They're at home to Astana in the second leg of their

It's 1-1 from the first leg in Kazakhstan last week.

David Currie looks ahead to the big game from Celtic Park.

It is hard to overstate the importance of this match to Celtic

and to their supporters. If they prevail, they will be one round away

from a place in the Champions League, with its financial and

footballing rewards. If they fail, they will drop into the Europa

League qualifiers, it is less glamorous and lucrative.

Thank you for joining us. 1-1 from the first leg, one would presume

Celtic have the advantage, can they press it home? We hope so. It would

be great for Scottish football to have Celtic firing on all cylinders

tonight and trying to get back into the Champions League. The key is not

conceding any goals, if they keep a clean sheet, they are through. It is

easier said than done, though. You said it, in previous times,

especially last season, conceded a lot of silly goals, so hopefully

Brendan Rodgers has sorted that out. Throw a bit of caution to the wind

early doors. You want to put pressure on them, but make sure the

back door is shut. In the last couple of years it has been Celtic's

weakness. Brendan Rodgers said for the most important things is to

weakness. Brendan Rodgers said for stay. How easy is that inside Celtic

Park on a big European night? It will help if the fans can stay calm

tonight and be patient. As long as it is goalless, Celtic are in

control of the game. They will get the goal. You hope so. It is not

exactly what -- about what Celtic do going forward, it is at the other

end, whether they can keep it tight. It will be a place in the play-offs

for a place in the Champions League or a play-off for a place in the

Europa League. For Southwark supporters, the latter would be

scant consolation, they have been starved of Champions League football

here for the past three seasons. Andy Murray will be Great Britain's

flag bearer at the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. He recently won

his second Wimbledon title and a gold medal at the London Olympics.

He will carry the flag on Friday in Rio. What is expected? I don't think

this is any surprise. It has been the talk of the team, who would

carry the flag, and lead out Team GB? His name is always in

contention, especially after Sir Bradley Wiggins ruled himself out.

No surprise. If you look at him and how well liked he is within his

sport and out with his sport, it is known as a prize. He has raised a

statement. He says he is very proud to be selected, adding, it is an

incredible honour to lead out Team GB, the biggest in sport. That is

what he thinks. He is a big fan of the Olympics, the defending champion

from London 2012, and this is his third Olympics, so it will mean a

lot to him. He does not have the honour of being the first Scottish

athlete to lead out the team, Sir Chris Hoy hat back on four years

ago. He has been speaking today, and he says he is so impressed with the

amount of Scottish athlete in Team GB.

Fantastic, a great reflection in the commitment and hard work of the

Scottish athlete. In terms of once to look forward to seeing, Callum

Skinner has to be top of the list. I remember seeing him at Meadowbank as

a kid with the local club training and learning to ride the track. He

has progressed through, and he has replaced me in the team sprint. He

will be riding the third lap. You are a fan of Andy Murray, he is the

defending champion and is playing doubles with his Big Brother. It is

exceptional, he could have two gold medals at the end. He has had a

fantastic year. Morale is a big part of sport, once you have momentum and

belief and your form, you can almost do anything. You would be crazy to

bet against him winning a singles title. Who knows about doubles. It

would be amazing for them both. He is a real figurehead, he will lead

the team. There are rumours he may carry the flag, he is on the short

list. Fingers crossed, I hope he does. Two things have dominated the

build-up. One is drugs, the other is Rio being ready. I will not ask you

about the latter, because you are just here, but viewers will be

wondering, can I trust what I am watching? What is your take? I can

understand why some of the public may think that. As a sporting fan

myself, there is a huge number of depressing headlines coming out. All

you can do is talk from your experience. You won six Olympic gold

medals clean. Your message is... ? Purely and simply, it is possible to

do it the right way. That is Sir Chris Hoy. This is the

Olympic Park, you can see the Olympic rings, the symbol of the

Olympics. That is the aquatic centre, where Robbie Renwick and

Hannah Miley will be swimming. That is weighed you will find the

spectators, enjoying the sunshine. That is the tennis court, where we

will see Andy Murray hopefully defending his Olympic gold medal.

There is the velodrome, Katie Archibald and Helen Skinner will be

there. Those readers will see the likes of judo and basket all. Plenty

of action. 11 sports will be housed in this Olympic Park. It is a fairly

sizeable area, 2.5 million metres square. Plenty of action and Scots

involved. Torrential downpours so far today,

and there is more to come, especially for the north and

north-east. Some of us have some brighter spells, but the cloud

replaces it, some heavy downpours, thunder and lightning. We have had

impressive pictures sent in. This was this afternoon. It will remain

cloudy with further heavy showers into the evening. This area of low

pressure is bringing the fun and games, strong wind around it. In the

centre it is light and variable, but for the North, north-east and

south-west, some strong wind. The Met office yellow warning is still

in force for heavy showers for the north and north-east, until 9pm, but

overnight it will become drier with clearer spells. It is windy for the

far north. Another mile night. Cloudy to start tomorrow, and some

showery bricks of rain continuing for the far north, north-east. But

it improves as we head through the day. We see some brighter spells and

sunshine developing. Along the West Coast into the south-west. Some

cloud around for Shetland, one or two brighter spells further towards

the far north, showers continue for the north-east, but longer West

Coast, some sunny spells developing, and the best of the warmth will be

across the central belt and further towards the south. There may be some

heavy showers developing across the Lothian 's, for five and eastern

borders. Perhaps the odd rumble of thunder. As we head to Thursday

night, into Friday, a brief ridge of high pressure builds. It will bring

some better weather for a time. Especially during the morning. It is

cloudy to end the day, with one or two scattered showers, and are still

quite warm. I'll be back with the headlines at 8

and the late bulletin just Until then, from everyone

on the team - right