RoadWATCH

Roadworks which are affecting Rutherglen and Cambuslang (work promoted by South Lanarkshire Council unless stated):

CAMBUSLANG MAIN STREET will be closed between A763 Bridge Street and B759 Greenlees Road from 7am on Friday, May 26 to 11.59pm Wednesday, May 31 to facilitate a Scottish Gas connection to a property. Alternative route is via A763, Bridge Street, Clydeford Road and A724 Hamilton Road.

A724 CAMBUSLANG ROAD closed between B768 Main Street and Duchess Place until Friday, May 26, to facilitate Network Rail carrying out repairs to the bridge superstructure. Diversion route via A724 Cambuslang Road, A749 Farmeloan Road and B768 Main Street.

CAMBUSLANG MAIN STREET is closed between its junction with Greenlees Road and Bridge Street from 6am to 10pm Saturday, June 17 to facilitate the Cambuslang Summerfest 2017.

FISHESCOATES AVENUE is closed between Fishescoates Avenue and A749 East Kilbride Road from 7am Tuesday, May 2 to 23.59pm Friday, May 5 for carriageway resurfacing works.

TANZIEKNOWE AVENUE, DRIVE and PLACE will be closed from 7am on Monday, May 8 to 23.59pm on Friday, May 12 and 7am on Monday, May 15 to 23.59pm on Friday, May 19 for carriageway resurfacing.

RUTHERGLEN MAIN STREET is closed between its junctions with Mill Street and Stonelaw Road on Saturday, June 3 from 6am to 10pm for Landemer Day celebrations. Vehicles approaching east of the closure are to proceed south on Stonelaw Road, west on Rodger Drive and north on Mill Street to complete the diversion. CATHCART ROAD at number 13, May 1-12. Promoter, Scottish Water. STONELAW ROAD at Rogerpark Nursing Home, May 2-9. Promoter, Scottish Water.

CAMBUSLANG ROAD at number 242, May 2-10. Promoter, Scottish Water. GREENLEES ROAD footway opposite 1a, May 2-3. Promoter, Energetics.

Somervell Street, Cambuslang; Somervell Street; Bridge Street; Main Street; Hamilton Road; Croft Road; Johnson Drive; Tabernacle Street; Tabernacle Lane. May 14, starts 2.15pm.

Cathcart Place, Rutherglen; Cathcart Place; Cathcart Road; Burnhill Street; Toryglen Road; Western Avenue; Chapel Street to Cenotaph; Chapel Street; Burnhill Street ; Main Street ; Farmeloan Road; King Street; Caledonia Avenue; Main Street; Burnhill Street; Cathcart Road; Cathcart Place. Start 1pm, May 13. Information correct as of Tuesday, May 2, according to the Scottish Traffic Commissioner and South Lanarkshire Council. The deputy leader of South Lanarkshire Council has been convicted of scaring a teenage girl after a boozy night in Rutherglen.

Larkhall councillor Jackie Burns had been travelling on a bus from Hamilton to Netherburn on the evening of September 18 last year when he repeatedly turned round towards a teenage girl and her boyfriend from his seat further down the bus – and at one point approached them.

Fiscal depute Fiona Kirkby asked the girl how she felt about councillor Burns’ behaviour. She had said it had been unwanted and that she had been “very scared.”

The charge throughout proceedings had been one of a sexually aggravated breach of the peace.

It had alleged that Burns had made gestures of a sexual nature towards the girl and had tried to get the girl to sit on his leg or beside him.

He was also alleged to have approached another female on the vehicle and to have tried to strike up a conversation with her.

However, following evidence, Sheriff Douglas Brown took these aspects out of the charge along with mention of the sexual aggravation.

Giving evidence at Hamilton Sheriff Court, councillor Burns could not explain his actions on the bus that night “in terms of rational behaviour”.

He said that he had been out with friends in Rutherglen since the afternoon and had been drinking.

Questioned by his solicitor, he said: “There were two people in the back of the bus who were annoyed by my behaviour, but another woman on the bus and the driver were not concerned.”

Councillor Burns accepted that his behaviour had been affected by the amount he had to drink that day. His lawyer asked him if he had made gestures of a sexual nature on the bus. Burns replied: “No. I find that absurd.”

He accepted that he had walked to the back of the bus, but said he did not speak to the girl. He said he stood there for seconds, turned and walked back down the bus.

Asked to describe his behaviour by the fiscal depute, he replied: “It’s unusual behaviour.”

Sheriff Douglas Brown said he had been impressed by the evidence given by the girl and her boyfriend and was satisfied that Burns’s behaviour amounted to a breach of the peace.

The two witnesses had been “genuinely alarmed” particularly the girl who had been crying, as well as the incident having a continued impact on her.

Sheriff Brown said Burns’s behaviour had been “weird, alarming and upsetting” but he was not satisfied there was a sexual motive.

He deferred sentence on Burns, 52, of Clovemill Wynd, Larkhall, until June 8 for a criminal justice social work report and ordered that he appear on that date.

Where and when to avoid the dreaded traffic jams