Homes evacuated after Glasgow tenement collapse
The building has been lying derelict for about five years after it was gutted by a fire during lockdown. Urie, who lives locally, described how he was returning home from a party moments before it fell down."I started hearing weird noises and at first I thought there were people in there smashing things up," he told BBC Scotland News. "I thought it was a weird time of night to be demolishing something."It became apparent that something awful was about to happen so I got across the street and turned round and saw the whole façade of the building collapse."
Mobile phone footage recorded by Urie shows dust clouds drifting down the street after the Kenmure Street side crumbled and the walls on Albert Drive were left "hanging by a thread". Urie, who played "Big Bob" O'Hara in River City, described how instinctively he ran for his life. "I realised I hadn't run since I was eight so it felt like a rather overweight 56-year-old Indiana Jones running away from a collapsing building."I was quite frightened, but it was also a shame because it was such a gorgeous old tenement."
The tenement block was one of two buildings badly damaged by fire within months of each other on the same crossroads several years ago. Urie said the burnt-out shell was fenced off and there was no access to the pavement but there had been local concern about its safety for some time. "We've all been really worried because it looks unsafe and it has been sitting there for such a long time without anybody doing anything," he said. A spokesperson for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: "A number of nearby residences were evacuated as firefighters worked to make the building safe". The last firefighters left the scene at about 03:00. The area was fenced off on Saturday morning while officials inspected the site.
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Daily Mail
43 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
From planned funerals to spending 'fake' winnings: How dozens of Gala Bingo players thought they'd scooped their share of £1.6million... only to be told it was a GLITCH
More than 1,000 Gala Bingo players were left with shattered dreams and empty pockets after the prizes they thought they had won were the result of an online glitch. The players believed they had nabbed up to £10,000 each from a prize pot of £1.6million on the popular online gambling site. But when they attempted to withdraw their winnings, they were told by the company that they would not be able to cash the money. The glitch in the bingo company's system resulted in the prize pot increasing to £1.6million when it should have only reached a maximum of £150. As a result, 1,188 players were left disappointed and out of pocket. The gambling site then sent out an email to its customers explaining the wins were a result of a technical fault and confirming that they would not be receiving the thousands of pounds some of the players felt they were owed. One family told The Daily Mail that they had hoped to spend their winnings on a funeral for a relative and were upset and disappointed when Gala Bingo said they could not cash the £9,600 they thought they had won. The Scottish pair, who wished to remain anonymous, discovered their accounts frozen and the money nowhere to be seen after playing online on Monday. A Scottish couple had hoped to spend their £7,000 on a funeral for a family member who had recently died and were disappointed when they were told the winnings were not theirs to cash One player even had his account on the website frozen and claims he has had his chat room privileges stopped because he was encouraging others to complain The woman revealed that her partner had recently lost his mother and was over the moon to find the 1p game providing winnings of up to £7,200. She confessed that they both felt like the Scotsman's mother was watching over and smiling down at them. She added that she also tried to cash in on the good luck and enjoyed a game of bingo, taking home £2,4000 herself. The couple were relieved by the surprise windfall and planned to spend the jackpot on a fully pink-themed funeral in honour of his mother complete with pink kilts. The woman said: 'My partner went up to get his medication and when he came back and sat down he looked shocked. I double checked and it said we had won £2,400. 'We thought we could take care of the funeral with no worries about the expense.' The Scot added that she feared something wasn't right when she saw there were as many as 1,000 winners and the jackpost was still available. But she and her partner continued to play and their fears were even soothed by the bingo chat room host who told them to enjoy their winnings. She explained that she believed to have had a lucky streak, winning a pot worth £2,400 three times in a row but when it came to cashing the money, her account was frozen She said: 'I wasn't sure about it all but then the host said "enjoy your winnings" - they obviously didn't realise what was happening.' The 52-year-old woman said that some players were able to withdraw the money straight to their Santander bank accounts but others couldn't. She told the Daily Mail that since the shocking incident, Gala Bingo has frozen her and her partners accounts and even disabled her husband's chat room privileges. because of his complaining. As recompense, she said they had been given some money back in the form of vouchers but felt it wasn't enough. She said: 'My partner is angry and it's become all-consuming, especially at such a difficult time. this has just knocked him sideways. 'It's all been dealt with so badly, it wasn't right.' And the husband and wife weren't the only ones blindsided by the Gala Bingo glitch. Victoria Geer, 28, and a full time mother from Oxford confessed she was 'shocked and so disappointed' to be told by the gambling site that her winnings were in fact not hers at all. She explained that she believed to have had a lucky streak, winning a pot worth £2,400 three times in a row but when it came to cashing the money, her account was frozen. The mother-of0one said: 'I put in £15 at around 8pm and played the 1p Bingo but by 8.30pm I'd been roped in to run-up rewards but I didn't know what that was and then suddenly I got told I had won £2,400 three times in a row.' She said the company's decision to blame a glitch and refuse to pay out was 'very sneaky and crafty.' Ms Greer added that she had thought the prize money was real throughout because even the chat host congratulated her and told her to spend her winnings. The mother told the Daily Mail that she had hoped to spend the small fortune on things for her new baby boy and a holiday but revealed they were all now on hold. 'I was going to spend the money on my 18-week-old boy and get him some lovely things for Christmas and go away on holiday with my partner to Spain for a week in March. 'I wanted driving lessons and a test because I don't drive at the moment so I'm disappointed,' she said. The mother said that while she initially bought her daughter a pair of Crocs instead of a pair of 'cheap sandals from Primark' she was loathed to do any more shopping in case Gala Bingo decided to take her winnings from her bank account. Mother and daughter Susan, 64, and Beth, 31, said they couldn't believe it when they thought they had won almost £10,000 together. The pair said they had withdrawn as soon as they could after seeing the winning notification pop up on screen but their payment never made it to their account. 'We were playing and then Emily said she had won something and it turned out we had won £9,600 each and I just couldn't believe it,' Susan said. 'I was worried it wasn't legit and so I tried to withdraw it but after about four hours it said the payment was cancelled.' The 64-year-old, who recently suffered a stroke, said she thought the money would go some way to renovating her cottage to make it more accessible following the change in her health. 'I was going to spend my winnings on changes to my cottage to help now that I've had this stroke.' She added that she thought Gala bingo needed to be held accountable and said she wanted some recompense for the stress of the whole experience. Bethand Susan received one per cent of the money they thought they had won and a Gala Bingo voucher but have said it's not enough. 'Somebody has to pay for this and something has to be done. 'Why did no one flag the error? I was told I had won £2,4000 three times in a row - how did no one spot this mistake? 'And to only give people one per cent back - it's not enough, it doesn't cover the stress this has caused. We've only got £96 out of the £9,600 we thought we had. Beth had some better luck than her mother and managed to withdraw some of the money before the transaction could be cancelled, but it was just a small amount of the full total she believed she had won. She said: 'I managed to withdraw about £250 but now the rest in my account has been frozen and I can't withdraw it. Some people might have been able to withdraw thousands but we couldn't and we don't know. 'Now we've just been given a bingo bonus of £20 but has to be spent on Gala Bingo and within a week so we're tied in because it's not withdrawable.' She added that both she and her mother would not be returning. Beth said: 'I won't play again. I've vowed never to play again. It's ruined my trust.' But not everyone had such a difficult time and one Manchester resident, who wished to remain anonymous, was one of the lucky few who managed to cash in all her winnings. The woman was able to cash in £2,400 from Gala Bingo and has been spending the money on clothes and shoes for her eight-year-old daughter ahead of their caravan holiday. She explained that she didn't think there was anything odd about the win because she had previously managed to bag £1,500 from the site but withdrew the cash immediately to put towards her family holiday. She said: 'I was playing and realised I'd won at 7.44pm and withdrew the money to my bank account at 7.46pm and it was there within ten minutes. I didn't even think there was anything wrong or it was a glitch because I've won a few times before and once won £1,500.' She added she thought her success was down to her speed and said she assumes she was one of the first to cash in her prize. The Bingo player added that she was also led to believe her success was nothing out of the ordinary because she received an official email from the company warning her to consider what to do with such a large sum and signposting gambling support. But the Manchester mother confessed she has since been wracked with guilt knowing that not everyone was as lucky as her. She told the Daily Mail: 'I feel so awkward and guilty - people are talking about suing them and saying they are owed money but I don't know. 'I can't sleep - I didn't get to sleep until 4.30am on Monday and it's put me off spending the money. ' The mother said that while she initially bought her daughter a pair of Crocs instead of a pair of 'cheap sandals from Primark' she was loathed to do any more shopping in case Gala Bingo decided to take her winnings from her bank account. 'I went to the Old Trafford Centre but I couldn't buy anything, I'm scared that if I spend it and they ask for it back - I can't have that kind of debt. 'I'm just trying to buy sensibly for my daughter for the holidays.' The Daily Mail has contacted Gala Bingo for comment.
The Sun
3 hours ago
- The Sun
Horoscope today, August 7 2025: Daily star sign guide from Mystic Meg
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Get all the latest Taurus horoscope new s including your weekly and monthly predictions ♊ GEMINI May 22 to June 21 You could be unsure which of two potential new images is right for you, but listen to your inner voice as someone else might not always share the same vision for your future. Pluto's input helps you spot unusual, maybe even unlikely, chances to skill up and grab a money-spinner. Lucky numbers link to a prize ladder. Get all the latest Gemini horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions ♋ CANCER June 22 to July 22 Stop second-guessing your ability to make a bond the best it can be. You have a transforming power that everyone senses, and it makes people want to please you. This can include a partner. If you start the day single, your perfect passion place can be a campfire, BBQ or outside spot lit by flickering lights. 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Get all the latest Aquarius horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions ♓ PISCES February 19 to March 20 A task you don't feel able to tackle alone can become so much easier when you ask for help – but it might not be the obvious people who offer. This can lead to interesting times. Your passion profile might seem matter-of-fact, but beneath the surface you're full of sensual ideas. A recent fan of getting fit can sense this.
Times
4 hours ago
- Times
I swore at the Queen. She was very kind
An invitation to meet the monarch might make anyone anxious. There's the dress code and the correct royal address, plus the bowing or curtsying to think about. So when John Davidson was asked to meet Queen Elizabeth in 2019 he could be forgiven his nerves. 'It was already daunting,' Davidson says. 'But for people like me, pressure and stress make you do your absolute worst.'His troubles began as his car entered Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh and police inspected the vehicle's underside with little mirrors on stalks. Donaldson opened the car window and began shouting: 'A bomb! I've got a f***ing bomb!' By the time he was in front of Her Majesty, all royal protocol was out the window, the voice in his head too hard to control. 'F*** the Queen!' he shouted.'Her Majesty was very kind. She was as calm and assured as my granny. She was very good about it,' Davidson says. Welcome to the extraordinary world of Tourette syndrome. The Queen made allowances for Davidson (he'd already shouted 'I'm a paedo!' in the tapestry-lined hallway) because he was there to receive an MBE for his work raising awareness about the condition. • Read expert advice on healthy living, fitness and wellbeing According to NHS England, Tourette syndrome affects one in a hundred school-age children, but it's almost certainly not what you think it is. Coprolalia (swearing) affects about 10 per cent of those with the condition; echolalia (repeating others' words) and palilalia (repeating one's own words) are more common. Up to 85 per cent also have conditions including OCD, ADHD, anxiety and autism. Physical 'ticcing', which might involve exaggerated blinking or twitching, is common too, although in Davidson's case it includes grander gestures such as shoving loved ones towards traffic or putting hands over a driver's eyes when they are at the wheel of a car. 'The tic urge often comes when I'm anxious, stressed or tired,' he explains, 'and then it's an exhausting mental battle telling myself, 'John, that's the absolute worst thing you could do in this moment,' and then trying not to do it.' Davidson was a happy-go-lucky kid who grew up in Galashiels in the Scottish Borders. He loved playing football and riding his BMX. Aged ten he had his tonsils and appendix out in quick succession. 'I'll never know the trigger, but after that last operation I began to feel different,' he recalls. 'There is one theory that a streptococcus infection can trigger Tourette's, but who knows?' He first noticed his exaggerated blinking on a family holiday on the Costa Brava in Spain. But it was when his mother accidentally stepped on a lizard and screamed that Davidson crossed a boundary. 'I called my mum a stupid cow,' he recalls. 'I didn't want to say it, and I didn't even mean it, but Tourette's is like someone else controlling my mind.' This is the exquisite torture of the coprolalia component of Tourette syndrome: sufferers aren't mouthing off or delivering a few home truths. More often than not they want to do the right thing but realise with horror that rogue brain circuits will make them do the opposite. It's a spectrum condition. Some people barely notice their tics; Davidson's quickly got him into trouble. He alienated school friends by skipping down the high street and licking the lampposts. When he began spitting food into the faces of his parents and siblings (he has a brother and two sisters) at the dinner table he was forced to eat with the family dog, Honey. 'My dad is a joiner, a very quiet, self-contained man,' Davidson says. 'There was no information about Tourette's, so I was just this alien child. He just couldn't cope.' His father eventually left, and his mother struggled on alone. Meanwhile, by the time Davidson was 12 the local GP believed he was having a complete nervous breakdown and suggested psychiatric care. He was now barking at dogs and certainly in a bad place mentally. 'You'd be better off killing me,' he told his mother. 'And I did genuinely feel that,' Davidson says. 'People with Tourette's are four times as likely to commit suicide as the general population. I felt like someone else had control of me and, as a kid, that's just terrifying.' It was while Davidson was in a psychiatric hospital, medicated with the powerful antipsychotic drug Haloperidol, that a neurologist finally identified the problem: full-blown 'Tourette's plus', the condition in its most severe form. Davidson presents copalalia, echolalia, OCD and ADHD. Luckily his diagnosis seemed to coincide with the dawn of a wider understanding. In 1989 the BBC made a documentary about him called John's Not Mad. Bizarrely the moral campaigner Mary Whitehouse insisted the BBC show it after 11pm because it contained so much swearing. The corporation resisted and it attracted a huge audience at 9pm. One of the documentary's contributors was the acclaimed writer and neurologist Oliver Sacks, who offered invaluable advice. 'Oliver Sacks told me, 'Accept the condition or it will dominate you,' and that has stayed with me,' Davidson says. 'It's there, I have to work with it.' That's harder than it sounds. Keeping his mind busy helps. Planning for stressful situations such as a visit to the cinema works too. But a new memoir about his life, I Swear, contains really heartbreaking stories, such as when Davidson is sent to stay with his strict God-fearing grandparents and asked to avoid the c-word. He calls his grandmother 'Granny c***'. We feel the visceral stress of him meeting Tommy Trotter, who gave him a job helping at a community centre. Trotter happens to have red hair, and Davidson's opening gambit is: 'F*** off, you fat ginger c***!' Incredibly they become lifelong friends. After the BBC documentary people became nicer to him, though a few oddballs came out of the woodwork. One day Davidson was home alone, caring for his pet rabbit Snowy, when there was a knock at the door. An exorcist who'd seen the programme had tracked him down. Standing on the front step in a hooded robe and holding a crucifix, he announced: 'You're possessed by demons and we need to dispel them!' Usually Davidson swears because he can't help it, but for once his response — 'Look, I need to deal with my rabbit so will you just f*** off?' — was just regular anger. Things really began to improve the day his school friend Murray invited him to play football and then to have tea at his house. Davidson initially declined because he'd heard that Murray's mother, Dottie, had liver cancer and only six months to live. Obviously horrible for Dottie, but a huge challenge for Davidson too. And yet he went, and despite his greeting ('Ha ha! You're gannae f***ing die!'), they became firm friends. In fact, Davidson moved in with Murray, Dottie and her husband, Chris. Equally extraordinarily, her liver cancer turned out to be a misdiagnosis (hemangioma, a benign liver tumour) and he now calls her his stepmother. 'That made my real mum feel guilty for a long time because she felt she had let me down,' Davidson says. 'But it's hard to explain just how hard it was for her dealing with me alone. Over the years I hope I've convinced her she did her best and she really needed a break.' Davidson's new family gave him a new lease of life. He got that job at a local community centre, became a youth worker and was eventually recognised as the leading national campaigner for awareness of Tourette syndrome. 'The MBE was the proudest moment of my life,' he says. 'I never thought I'd even have a life, let alone be able to help people and get recognised for it.' As well as the memoir, a film, also called I Swear, will be released in October, with an extraordinary turn by Robert Aramayo as Davidson. But we live in a post-Salt Path world, and questions about the authenticity of Raynor Winn's bestseller have made people sceptical of extreme life stories. Oddly, that means that when I meet Davidson I'm a bit disappointed about how gentle and articulate he is. Is this really the guy who, when he met Kirk Jones, the film's director, made him a cup of tea then told him, 'I used spunk for milk'? I ask around. Yes, that happened. But it still comes as almost a relief when halfway through our interview, apropos of nothing, Davidson barks, 'F*** off!' We live in censorious times. Do some people envy his freedom to say extreme things? 'Oh yeah, I meet people who say: 'John, you get to speak your mind, I'd love some of that.' Believe me, though, you do not want Tourette's. I've been attacked in the street for saying things I didn't even want to say.' Davidson may one day soon become an interesting medical footnote. Technology promises to make Tourette syndrome a thing of the past. The University of Nottingham has developed a wristband device called a Neupulse that acts on the median nerve at the wrist. Electrical pulses suppress the urge to tic, and trials show a 25 per cent reduction in symptoms. Davidson has tried it and the results were very encouraging. 'My tics were massively reduced,' he says, 'and my anxiety about ticcing was way down too.' However, when the device becomes commercially available Davidson says he will use it sparingly. 'As a kid I would have given literally anything to get rid of Tourette's. Now I just want to be me. Tourette's has given me massive insight into and empathy for humanity. I honestly think it's integral to who I am.' • Tourette's and the teenage girl — why are so many developing tics? One well-known figure with Tourette syndrome is the Brit award-winning Scottish singer Lewis Capaldi, who two years ago abandoned his world tour to deal with his symptoms. Davidson would like to meet him and offer some advice; he speculates that Capaldi might have tried the drug Haloperidol. 'I was on it for 30 years, and it basically makes you tired and hungry all the time. It doesn't cure Tourette's, it's just a way of doctors shutting you up, and to me that's not the right approach. We've come such a long way since the 1980s. I would like anyone reading the book or seeing the film to laugh with, not at. And everyone struggling with it to know there is hope.'I Swear by John Davidson (Transworld £18.99). To order a copy go to Free UK standard P&P on orders over £25. Special discount available for Times+ members
