What virus? Scots flout advice at busy beaches
Police forced to break up sunbathing crowds at packed beauty spots
CROWDS of sunseekers flouted social distancing advice as they packed onto Scotland’s beaches yesterday – with police forced to clear busy beauty spots.
As temperatures soared after a largely wet and grey month, daytrippers descended on coastlines and parks.
The hottest spot was Kinloss, Moray, where the mercury hit 29C (84F) – the warmest day in July.
Police were called to Portobello beach, in Edinburgh, at 3pm after crowds of people defied the ongoing advice to avoid large groups.
More than ten police vans and cars arrived as officers broke up groups of young people and removed alcohol from sunbathers.
Around ten officers were still on the beach two hours later.
Police Scotland said they had been informed of ‘a large disturbance’ on the beach. There were no reports of any injuries. In Glasgow, police cracked down on people drinking outside.
Glasgow City Council said 12 people were ejected from Kelvingrove Park, in the west end, for breaching city rules on consuming alcohol in public. Police and council officials were also on patrol at the gates, preventing anyone with alcohol from entering.
As daytrippers headed for beauty spots, long queues formed at train stations. At Glasgow Central, there were long lines for services to Ayrshire resorts such as Prestwick,
Ayr and Troon, with ScotRail forced to issue a warning on social media that customers would ‘need to queue for boarding’ and may not get their ‘first choice of train’.
CalMac raised a yellow alert for ferry journeys from Largs, in Ayrshire, to Millport due to ‘extreme volume of passengers’ at 2pm.
The wait for vehicles to board the vessel reached three hours.
There was also chaos on the roads as the main route to Ayrshire from Glasgow, the M77, was blocked for more than an hour by an accident. Traffic was also heavy on the A82 at Loch Lomond between Arden and Balloch, Dunbartonshire.
It was a similar story in the East as families made their way to Fife and East Lothian.
In the Highlands, crowds flocked to Loch Morlich, near Aviemore, Inverness-shire, and Loch Muick, on the Balmoral Estate in Aberdeenshire.
Meanwhile, James Fraser, chairman of Friends of Loch Lomond, condemned the decision not to reopen public campsites as a ‘national disgrace’, noting that campers were arriving in ‘larger numbers than ever’ – resulting in hygiene and toileting issues on beaches and fields.
While temperatures are expected to drop today, the weather is set to be fair for the final bank holiday weekend of the summer, with daytime rain not expected to arrive until Tuesday at the earliest.
The Met Office’s Simon Partridge said: ‘Saturday is looking not bad, with a mix of sunshine and showers. Parts of Aberdeenshire and the Central Belt could see 21C or 22C (70-72F).’