Cyclist killed – Policy and Strategy Committee – New Town Community Council – Exam results today! – London 2012
Police are appealing for help identifying a cyclist involved in a fatal road collision in the Scottish Borders yesterday.
The incident happened at around 4.20pm on Monday 6 August 2012 on the A703 Edinburgh to Peebles Road, approximately 300 metres north of Peebles.
The cyclist, who was travelling north, appears to have lost control of the bicycle, veered into the southbound carriageway and collided with a Fiat Panda.
Witnesses at the locus administered first aid until emergency services arrived, however he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The cyclist is described as being a male between 40 – 50 years old using a blue and white Peugeot racing bike. He was wearing a yellow jacket, blue and yellow cycle top, and black cycling shorts.
The road was closed for around three and a half hours while collision investigation and vehicle recovery took place.
Officers are following a number of lines of enquiry, however it is believed the cyclist may have become medically unwell immediately prior to the collision.
Sergeant Brian Jones from Lothian and Borders Police Road Policing Branch said: “This was a terribly sad incident which has left a man dead and a number of witnesses greatly affected.
“There may be someone out there who recognises the description of this cyclist and I would appeal to them to come forward as a matter of urgency.
“Similarly I would appeal to anyone who may have witnessed the incident to come forward – they may have vital information that could greatly assist us in establishing the full circumstances.”
Anyone with any information is asked to contact Galashiels Police Station on 01896 664545 or the Force Communication Centre on 0131 311 3131.
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The council’s Policy and Strategy Committee meets this morning. One of the items on the agenda will be an update to the council on the Property Conservation Service and an “update on how the outstanding issues are being addressed.” This is the department which is subject to an ongoing police investigation, following allegations of corruption and wrongdoing. According to the report before the meeting today the internal disciplinary investigations are almost at an end. It shows that 2 members of staff have been dismissed but have appealed against dismissal, 2 have been dismissed and have not appealed, 1 is proceeding to a disciplinary hearing, 2 have retired or resigned and 2 are still under investigation. There is to be a new service put in place and a separate report has been produced about that. The bottom line is that this results in a loss of revenue for the council while there are investigations into suspended statutory notices, which are said to total around £5.9m.
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A meeting of the New Town Community Council last night heard that there will be changes to traffic diversions by the end of November which are designed to take traffic away from New Town streets such as Abercromby Place and Albany Street. The modelling system shown off by the council estimates that this will reduce the increased traffic in the New Town area, and Councillor Lesley Hinds, the transport convenor, explained that the changes were a response from the tram team to her challenge to them to find an answer which will be acceptable to the city centre residents. Traffic will be routed along two lanes each way outside the Balmoral Hotel and will be encouraged to travel
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Thousands of pupils across Edinburgh will today receive the exam results they have been working and waiting for.
Early indications show performance across the City as a whole has surpassed previous years.
Nine thousand six hundred and fifty-four (9,654) pupils sat 45,775 exams this year, ranging in subject matter from Accounting to Woodwork.
Prateek Yadav, an S6 Pupil from Tynecastle High School, who sat Advanced Higher exams in Physics, Maths and Chemistry, has been waiting for this day: “I’ve put in a lot of hard work over the last couple of years. I want to study Physics at Oxford University for which I need an A in all the 3 subjects, in order to gain a place.”
Councillor Paul Godzik, Education Convenor, welcomed today’s results:- “We are always looking to improve on performance and the information we have put together so far shows Edinburgh as a whole is up on last year – with a 1 percentage point increase in Highers across the board at S5. It’s great to see improvements in our Standard Grade pass rates too.
“This will have been a red-circle day on many calendars across the city and I want to congratulate all those who sat exams this year. We have been working hard to make sure all school leavers enter a positive destination of employment, training or further education.
“Initiatives such as the Edinburgh Guarantee are going a long way to making this a reality for many of our ex-pupils. This is something we are keen to build on in the coming years and look forward to seeing many more placements and positive results.”
All candidates will receive their results by means of the traditional postal delivery today.
Those candidates who have activated their MySQA accounts, through which they can choose to receive their exam results by text and/or email in addition to their results certificate, will have received them by 9a.m this morning.
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So another six days of Olympics 2012 to go and already we have a gold post box to commemorate Sir Chris Hoy’s gold medal. Will he win another one today? Does that mean another gold postbox? We shall have to see! Have you used the gold postbox on Hanover Street yet?
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
