Careless driving charge

Anger as East Kilbride South returns the

A 45-year-old woman has been charged with careless driving after mounting a pavement while fleeing from a worker at a discount store on Friday afternoon.

Police say staff at B&M in the Queensway became suspicious of two women shortly before 4pm.

They checked CCTV footage which confirmed items worth £22.13 were being concealed under a jacket in a trolley.

A staff member went after the shoplifters who had made their way to a vehicle.

When the worker approached the car, the driver made off at speed but mounted the pavement on the way out.

Police officers later checked CCTV and traced the driver to her home address through the car registration and she was charged.

A 24-year-old woman has also been charged with shoplifting.

Shocking statistics have revealed hundreds of children in East Kilbride are living in poverty.

The figures from the End Child Poverty Coalition paint a bleak picture, particularly for the East Kilbride South ward.

More than a quarter of children are on the breadline and it has the second-highest level of child poverty in the East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow constituency at 25.57 per cent after housing costs.

The average for the constituency as a whole is 19.57 per cent.

The ward, which takes in areas such as Greenhills, Whitehills, parts of The Murray and Lindsayfield, also tops the South Lanarkshire average of 22 per cent.

This is an increase from the previous set of figures released in 2014 which saw 24.75 per cent of children in the ward living in poverty.

But with a local food bank revealing it handed out 5500 emergency food parcels last year alone, other areas of East Kilbride also have alarmingly high figures.

East Kilbride Central North, which includes East Mains, the town centre and the Village, sits at nearly 24 per cent – also above the average for South Lanarkshire – and a sharp increase from the 2014 figure of 18.17 per cent.

Meanwhile, in East Kilbride Central South – parts of The Murray and Westwood – nearly 22 per cent of children are in poverty and in East Kilbride East – Calderwood and St Leonards – the figure stands at nearly 21 per cent.

Avondale and Stonehouse, which takes in Strathaven, sits at just under 14 per cent.

But in stark contrast, the plush suburbs of Stewartfield, Thorntonhall, Jackton and Hairmyres (East Kilbride West) have only seven per cent of children on the breadline.

EK South SNP councillor Archie Buchanan told the News: “These new figures are very worrying indeed.

“Poverty in our country continues to affect the lives of many of our children and can affect their general wellbeing and also how they perform in later life and must continue to be tackled as a priority.

“This is obviously a problem for some people living within the ward that I represent where there are a large number of families – 247 living in four-apartment and 120 in five-apartment council properties and many others within the private sector.

“Locally, I would encourage parents to maximise their income, benefits or otherwise wisely, and stay away from the high interest providers of finance and consider looking to a credit union such as East Kilbride or South Lanarkshire to help them with their finances.”

Karen Dornan, of EK Community Food Bank, said poverty means more families, including the working poor and disabled, are facing the agonising choice of heating their homes or putting food on the table.

She said: “These statistics are a poor report card of the care shown to people in need in our community.

“In the food bank, we are seeing the real lives affected by these statistics.

“Demand for the food bank is continuing to rise throughout the town and last year we distributed 5500 bags of food in East Kilbride alone.

“Our experience is showing growing levels of poverty throughout East Kilbride, with growing numbers of children affected.

“We are currently supporting families who are in work but still unable to buy food and we are finding growing numbers of disabled people struggling to both feed themselves and heat their homes.

“Many of our users report that they regularly skip meals in order to keep up with their household bills.

“Through the food bank, the churches in East Kilbride are providing bags of nonperishable food and through our Harvest Store individuals are able to supplement this with bread, fresh fruit and vegetables.”

East Kilbride MP Lisa Cameron said: “It is shameful that so many children are now living in poverty as a result of UK Government austerity cuts with many relying on food banks. The upcoming statement by