THE ARCHIVES

100 years ago

William Stewart, a young man of no fixed abode, was sent to prison for 21 days by Sheriff Boswell at Perth for daring cycle thefts from Coupar Angus. According to the Fiscal, the machines, one of which was a new Sunbeam valued at £18, were temporarily left in a close and at an inn respectively and, in broad daylight, the accused decamped with them. One of the machines, which belonged to a ploughman, had not been recovered. The Fiscal paid compliment to the police for their smartness in tracing the accused.

50 years ago

A little boy fell 25 feet from a window of his home in Dundee yesterday, got up unhurt, strolled up to his dad and asked: “Will

I get my name in the paper?” Seven-year-old Geoffrey Digan was feeding birds from the kitchen window of his second-floor tenement home in Beechwood when he fell. He landed more or less feet first in soaking grass on the soft ground and bruised his face slightly against his knee. But, quite unruffled, he walked back upstairs. An ambulance took him to the royal infirmary where he was x-rayed.

25 years ago

Emergency services went to the aid of a stricken petrol tanker in Dundee last night fearing its highly volatile cargo of dripping aviation fuel might be about to explode. The Shell tanker was heading eastwards on Kingsway when one of its tyres apparently burst into flames at the height of the tea-time rush hour. The tanker had also developed a leak, dripping the high octane fuel, potentially more dangerous than petrol, on to the road surface. Police immediately closed both eastbound lanes, causing huge tailbacks.

One year ago

Roads chiefs made more than £100 per hour from speeding tickets on the A90 north of Dundee last year. Motorists were hit with penalties totalling nearly £1 million during the first full year the road’s average speed camera system was in operation. Figures released by Police Scotland revealed 9,630 drivers were caught speeding on the dual carriageway between Dundee and Stonehaven in 2018. Motorists who break the 70mph limit receive penalties of £100 plus three points on their licence.