12/01/2017 Reporting Scotland

The First Minister is under fire over delays to new NHS

trauma centres in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen.

Travel disruption as snow and icy conditions hit across Scotland.

Is pressure to meet deadlines causing lorry drivers to ignore

regulations. If the load isn't there in time, you will be fined. So money

Also on the programme: will be taken off your agreed price.

Some improvements in Scotrail's

performance, but it's still failing to meet punctuality targets.

And, this watch was on board the first ship to be

Now a Glasgow museum is searching for the family of its owner.

The health service took centre stage at Holyrood today,

with the First Minister facing a claim that lives could be put

at risk, because of delays in creating four new specialist

trauma centres at hospitals across Scotland.

The centres - in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen -

were scheduled to be in place now, but they won't now be fully

Nicola Sturgeon says it's correct to take time

Here's our political editor Brian Taylor.

Trauma centres already exist. Here is the First Minister touring one in

Dundee. They deal with casualties from major incidents. Plans to

upgrade and integrate them were due to be completed last year. But that

has been deferred. Communities have been expecting these centres for two

years and are now told to wait at least another three. I think they

deserve a fuller explanation. Labour spot lited Aberdeen and said an

enhanced trauma centre there was vital to cope with emergencies that

might arise in the North Sea. The life saving medics told me what

they're telling the Government, more delays will cost lives. The First

Minister said initial plans has been questioned by clinicians. That

prompted a rethink and a delay. But they decided to stick with four

centres. We are not talking about creating from scratch four new

facilities that currently don't exist. These four hospitals in

Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow and Edinburgh already provide excellent

trauma care. What we are taurveging about is -- talking about is

continuing to enhance what they do and to join up the services they

provide with the services that other hospitals provide and with the

service the ambulance service provides in an integrated network.

These were robust exchanges, reflecting the emotive nature of the

topic. There are two competing diagnosis. The opposition said a

promise has been broken. But Nicola Sturgeon said that a plan had been

sensibly restructured in the light of advice and action was now in

place. This row has highlights the challenges facing the NHS, our

correspondent is at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for us tonight. We have

heard a lot about the NHS crisis in England. I think it would be fair to

say in Scotland the picture looks better, but that doesn't mean to say

it is not facing its own huge challenges. If we look at A

figures, the figures show in Scotland we are 10% better off. But

the Government's own targets in Scotland for waiting times haven't

been met since September last year. And that goes for other waiting time

targets too. The annual report shows it only made one out of eight key

targets. In term of social care, we are doing good work on the ground,

but there are too many people struck in hospital for too long because

there are no care packages and we are facing a recruitment crisis for

staff not just in rural areas, but in cities. So we are maybe not using

the words humanitarian crisis to describe the NHS in Scotland, but

the chair of the BMA said the NHS was struggling. And 40% of the

entire Scottish budget is spent on health and health boards are

struggling to balance the books. Thank you.

Snow and ice have caused disruption on Scotland's roads today.

A section of the M74 was closed during this morning's rush hour

causing long tailbacks and there've been a spate of accidents

Winter in Scotland - a season with many different faces. The

picturesque, capable of turning into something less forgiving. Sometimes

with damaging results. On the M74 this morning the conditions brought

traffic to a stand-still. A four car collision a as a result of the

winter's first major snowfall. Across the country the snow has been

patchy. But where it's fallen it has caused problems. Here just outside

Dunblane you see the kind of problems that drivers have been

seeing. It took six hours to fwree this delivery -- free this delivery

van. And Sir Chris Hoy was rescued by a gritter after his car spun off

the road. But the general picture for those monitoring major roads was

one of isolated disruption. We have had to deal with a number of

incidents, some closed roads, we have had to deploy our gritters in

fact we had 241 gritters out last night and we dealt with temperatures

down to minus eight and a half degrees. As those gritters welcome

back being put to work, the impact was felt far and wide. In the

Highlands and Dumfries and Galloway a number of school were closed. Some

ferry services to the islands were cancelled. Rough seas hinting at

what lies ahead for some - strong winds, snow and ice all feature in a

series of weather warnings that last until tomorrow evening. Staying mind

of of what a Scottish winter is capable of remains the message. And

more snow are forecast tonight. Craig Anderson is in Inverness. What

is expected where you are? As we saw and heard in Steven's report, the

majority of problems today have been on the roads. But as the day wore

on, well, the weather got more benign, with the snow showers

getting fewer and further between. But we are not out of winds. The

forecasters say that tonight the snow showers, the like of which we

have had will merge into longer periods of snow and that will be

accompanied by severe gale force winds up to 70mph. That may turn to

rain in coastal areas and that may mean that in those areas there will

be overtopping with high waves and the winds of harbour walls and

coastal road and on high ground we could have blizzards and drifting

snow. Yes, I know it is the winter and we should expect the weather,

but we have seen a lot of bumps and shunts on the road and BBC

Scotland's travel unit has been telling us that already there are a

lot of drivers having difficulties on many roads. So the message is

take care and be prepared for the conditions and anybody that is

travelling, particularly in the early hours of tomorrow, be prepared

for disruption and be prepared to look forward to the weekend, where

the forecasters say this the first wintry snap of 2017 should have

passed most of us by. Thank you. And we'll have a full

weather forecast at It isn't the first time a high-sided

lorry has been blown over by gale force winds on the Forth Road

Bridge. But yesterday's incident,

which caused major travel disruption, has raised questions

about whether lorry drivers ignore warnings because of

pressure to meet deadlines. As John McManus reports that's

the claim of one driver who's been Open again and running smoothly. It

was different on Wednesday, when the Forth Road Bridge was closed because

of this accident. The driver's been arrested. But it is not the first

time high-sided vehicles have been caught out on the bridge. So why do

drivers risk it? This driver who was caught up in yesterday's delays says

industry colleagues are under pressure. Our customer pays for the

transport and they say to the company, if the load isn't there by

the time that we stipulate, then you will be fined. IE, money will be

taken off of our agreed price. And the companies certainly... That,

they project that pressure on to the driver. There are no official

figures on how many HGV ignore high wind warnings. But the police were

sufficiently concerned about the dangers to lorries that it launched

a campaign in October. The company dangers to lorries that it launched

running the Forth Road Bridge said it passes details of incidents to

the police, but the onus is on the drivers. It only takes one to bring

the bridge to a closure and the consequences of that we saw

yesterday. And it was reliant on the drivers following the signage.

Otherwise one HGV can close the bridge. Haulage companies can get

help. This industry body posts advice on driving. Drivers are not

under pressure from operators to ignore road traffic signs and any

safety advice. Across Scotland, high-sided vehicles and high winds

often don't mix well. Drivers be ware.

A heroin addict has been jailed for life for murdering her

41-year-old Sandra Weir battered Mary Logie to death

at the pensioner's home in Leven in January last year.

She was convicted after the jury heard she had been stealing

money from Mrs Logie to fund her drug habit.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, Weir was ordered to serve a minimum

The punctiality and reliability of train services in Scotland have

improved over the last month according to figures

But although it's the third period in a row that the company has

reported an improvement it's still operating below the target set

The timely arrival of a train during a snow flurry in Glasgow today. The

puncturety of services got better, but they're still below the targets

set by the Government. We are not at the level we want to be at. What we

are busy with is a rolling programme that will continuously improve

punctuality. In the last month almost 90% of services ran within

five minutes of when they show. Which ScotRail see as proof they're

heading in the right direction. It is a lot better than it was. There

is few delay. You can get to where you want to go easily. What is your

experience? When there has been delays, there is replacement buses

and I can't say we have been stuck anywhere. We could probably do with

having slightly nicer trains I would think. Some new trains are promised

from September. But issues like the signalling fault at Haymarket

yesterday will continue to put a dent in the figures. Milngavie

station one of many stations where services were disrupted throughout

the central belt. This is a busy commuter line and one traveller said

he is not seeing any improvement. It used to be that the service was

generally very reliable. And now every week I often get a taxi home

from work if the trains are significantly delayed. Events on the

network can affect services anywhere and that is what you get when you

have a network as busy as ours. So we have a total focus to minimise

the effect of signalling failures or rolling stock failures. Last week's

disruption at Airdrie was a child's scooter thrown on to over headlines.

ScotRail says things will continue to improve. Their challenge is to

convince their customers of that. Labour's UK leader, Jeremy Corbyn,

has appeared to contradict a call by the Scottish Labour

leader for a new Act of Kezia Dugdale made the suggestion

last month, as she outlined plans Here's our Westminster

correspondent, David Porter. Jeremy Corbyn... 251,000. On his

election as Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn promised to be a friend of

Scotland and a frequent visitor. Krit sicks say he has not -- critics

say he has not delivered. He disagrees. I have been in Scotland a

lot of times and in Scotland again next Friday. Others talk of tensions

between himself and Labour's Scottish leader, Kezia Dugdale on

the crucial question of constitutional reform, these

enthusiastic and wants a new Act of Union. He sounds less than keen. I

want us to look at the constitutional relationships. I

wouldn't use the words new Act of Union. Who we will be doing is

looking at a new constitutional convention for the whole of the UK

and there is a need to have a discussion about the relative powers

in Scotland, in Wales and in Northern Ireland. Of devolved

Assemblies. Tonight Scottish Labour issued this response:

But what about the central faultline in Scottish politics - independence?

Should the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, call a second referendum?

I don't see the need for one and I am not asking for one and I don't

think she should call one. Jeremy Corbyn knows this an important year

for Labour in the UK and Scotland. Council elections in May and helping

to frame the wider debate on Brexit will loom large.

Tonight's top story: The films First Minister is under fire over delays

for new A centres and why the Edinburgh rugby club may relocate.

An agreement has been reached to ensure that foreign workers

on freight boats serving Orkney and Shetland are paid

Transport Minister, Humza Yousaf has announced that a new charter

arrangement will resolve the long-running row

This cargo boat waits for a weather window to seal to Aberdeen.

But there is good news for the crew on board.

An agreement has been reached to ensure

all the seafarers are paid at least the minimum wage.

And new charter arrangement will see the operators

of the Lifeline ferry contract take over the running of cargo vessels.

The crew were being paid less than the minimum wage.

As soon I became aware of the situation, we

now have agreement in place to pay at least the minimum wage.

The RMT union has launched a high-profile

They called on the Scottish Government to intervene.

They held a protest at the quayside in Aberdeen and marched

If you had let us know were coming today, we

could have done our homework and found out exactly what the issue is.

However, it is a Scottish Government contract

and RMT remain absolutely convinced and certain

that the rates of pay that are collectively bargained

The new contract comes into force next month.

A look at other stories from across the country.

Oil and gas service company Akker Solutions is to cut

The company says it's likely that 100 of the redundancies

Akker is blaming the decision on market conditions.

Campaigners opposed to plans for ship-to-ship oil

transfers in the Moray Firth have been protesting outside

The Cromarty Firth Port Authority wants permission to transfer

millions of tonnes of crude annually at sea, and insists the risk

But opponents say any accident could pose a threat to the Firth's

It could be disastrous. One accident between these ship to ship oil

transfers, just one accident, good destroy the ecosystem or set it back

decades. Tourists come here to see that, they don't come here to see

oil to oil -- oil transfers between ships.

Craft beer company BrewDog is threatening to pull the plug

on expansion plans at its brewery in Aberdeenshire, over a row

The Ellon-based company wants to build a hotel,

restaurant and conference centre, creating 80 jobs, but it claims

Aberdeenshire Council wants 60 times the fair market

The authority says it has a responsibility to ensure best

In the village of Birkhead near Elgin they have celebrated the New

Year with this tradition. Despite 50 mph snow showers, locals carried a

flaming barrel around the town. It is said to bring good luck to the

village. Pieces of the Clavie are said

to bring good luck and are given In Rugby, the Scotland international

Duncan Weir says his club, Edinburgh Rugby, had to relocate

from the home of Scottish Edinburgh are going well

in the European Challenge Cup this season, but they're struggling

in the Pro Twelve league, as they have done in

the past few campaigns. So to help improve their fortunes

they've sought pastures new, This will be their home for the next

few years at least. They have given the rugby facility they bit of a

makeover, constructing a couple of temporary stands. Although not quite

as quickly as this time-lapse would suggest. It means moving out of

their former home and Scotland's largest rugby stadium, Murrayfield.

We're coming here to make it a more hostile environment. As you pointed

out, playing in front of a small crowd in a big stadium, rather than

a crowd of 5000 packed in a 5000 seater stadium will make it a much

better atmosphere for the layers on the field and hopefully get a more

special bond with the fans as well. Edinburgh's first match at their new

home is a week on Friday when they played the Romanian club Saracens in

the European Challenge Cup. Before that, they have a hugely important

home match in the same competition against English side harlequins this

weekend. A win for them would just about see them through to the

quarterfinals. We want to win the game and by doing that it takes any

other peripheral stuff out of the equation. We need to go down there

and perform and do well. One way to look at Edinburgh's move is to say

they've downsized, but it may just turn out they have found their dream

home. Sir Andy Murray is in Melbourne

preparing for the first Grand Slam He goes into the Australian Open

as the world's number one player and will be in the other half

of tonight's draw from his Murray has made the final

of the event no fewer than five Glasgow's Riverside Museum has

launched an appeal to find the family of the owner of a watch

in their collection. The watch belonged to Sid Worral,

a chef on board the Athenia which was torpedoed on the first day

of the Second World War in 1939. Our arts correspondent

Pauline McLean takes up the story. The watch itself is nothing special,

it's a perfectly ordinary 1930s man's wristwatch. But the story it

has to tell is really fascinating. It relates really strongly to this

vessel, the Athenia, witch was the first ship to be sunk during a II.

-- during World War II. When the ship was still be there than some of

the other young men were the last of the boat, he ended up in a lifeboat

and there were two badly burned cooks. Dad was talking to them and

doing what he could to comfort them. One cook, I believe his name was

Sid, said do that, could you keep my watch for me? Jenny believed Sid

died and kept the watch until his own death two years ago, when his

family gave it to Glasgow, where the Athenia was built. But curator Emily

was convinced there was much more to the story. Having found a letter in

the city archives which found Sid recovered in Galway before returning

to Glasgow. He says there are only two dividers here, another cook from

Worral. This linked it with the name said. While Sid maybe be gone, she

is keen to reunite the watch with his family. It's not just the

objects, if the stories that they tell. The watch is not that

interesting as an object but it is the story around it. We would like

to take that story forward and complete it and put it on display,

that would be fantastic. A watch which travelled the world and

survived against the odds, just like its owner. Paul

How's the weather looking? Thank you very much indeed. Good evening, it

has certainly been wintry for some of us today and more on the way

tonight. This is the latest rain and snow radar. Quite moderate across

the North at times but overnight a further spell of snow and high

winds, so further Met Office yellowed beer where warnings are in

force. There are the showers in the West and south-west clearing away,

but look across the far north, the Northern Isles, this area of low

pressure bringing high winds and outbreaks of rain. Those wins the

severe storm force at times but as the air moves south, likely to turn

to snow. -- as the rain moves south. A significant amount of snow at

times. This is ten o'clock the night until the early hours. There will be

some blizzards at times, so very difficult conditions on the roads

for travelling. Still breezy but it will be cold, frosty and indeed I

see. Looking ahead to tomorrow and Friday, that low pressure is moving

its way down the North Sea, opening the floodgates to cold northerly is

once again and they would be strong leading to big waves around northern

and eastern coasts with some of those waves crashing over at times,

but it will be a sunny day. Still a few snow showers around. It's a

sunny and crisp day but it will be cold. Perhaps only around one or two

or three Celsius. It really will feel quite bitter indeed through the

rest of the afternoon, the rain turned to snow because there are

further showers through the Highland region and in towards Aberdeenshire

too. In the weekend, high pressure not to far-away and through the

course of the weekend it will feed in some milder air, certainly by

Sunday. But Saturday is still a cold day. A crisp day, some sunshine and

Sunday. But Saturday is still a cold icy patches around, some snow at

times. Come Sunday, the milder air should be with us. It will be cloudy

with some patchy rain in the West and has been mild at comes in over

the cold ground, there will be some mist and low cloud to content with

too. That is the forecast for now. Thanks very much. That is Reporting

Scotland. I'll be back with the headlines

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

on the team, right across the country, have a very good

evening.