Latest news with #LanarkshireLabour
Daily Record
21-05-2025
- Daily Record
Lanarkshire Labour councillor deliberately drove his car at man filming school bus cuts protest
Raging Pat Patton, of Bellshill, then got out of his Hyundai Santa Fe and told the victim to put his camera away. A Lanarkshire Labour councillor shocked onlookers when he drove his car deliberately at a man filming a protest over school bus cuts. Raging Pat Patton then got out of his Hyundai Santa Fe and told the victim to put his camera away. Patton, of Bellshill, was fined £420 at Airdrie Sheriff Court this week after being found guilty of assault. The incident happened outside Kirklands Credit Union in Woodside Street, Coatbridge, on June 26 last year, Patton's 59th birthday. A small group of parents and around 10 children had gathered to voice anger at North Lanarkshire Council making changes to school bus services. The protest took place outside the general election campaign HQ of Frank McNally, who was a Labour councillor and the party's candidate for Coatbridge and Bellshill. Mr McNally went on to win the seat. Patton, councillor for Bellshill, left the building and emerged from the car park in his Hyundai. The victim told the court he was filming the protest and walked past the front of the councillor's car while it was not moving. He said: "His car had been stopped for approximately five seconds. He then looked at me and accelerated towards me, striking my knees. "This caused me to move back and then jerk forward. "I wasn't injured but I was shocked, taken aback that someone would do that. "Councillor Patton then got out of his car and tried to grab my phone." The victim's phone footage was shown in court. He could be heard telling Patton he had "no right to run me down". The councillor replied: "You have no right to record me." Asked if Patton's car could have hit him by accident, the man told prosecutor Fergus Warner: "If it had been an accident he would have got out and apologised, but that didn't happen. "He was aggressive, clearly enraged and unapologetic." The victim's wife said she was standing behind Patton's car and didn't see it hit her husband. But she told the court: "It moved quite fast and I saw him [the victim] lurch forward. I was really alarmed. Pat Patton was aggressive and angry." Patton, who was elected as a councillor in 2022, said in evidence that he stopped his car when he saw the victim walk towards him. He added: "The car never came into contact with him because I stopped. "I got out and put up my hand to stop him filming. I had no intention of taking his phone from him." Fellow Labour councillor Maureen Devlin said she was only a few feet away and insisted Patton's car didn't strike the victim. She told defence lawyer Stephen MacBride: "If it had I would have seen it." Sheriff Walter Mercer said he wasn't convinced that Patton's car had struck the victim but concluded: "It's beyond reasonable doubt that he assaulted the victim by accelerating and driving the vehicle towards him." The sheriff said he considered the councillor's conduct "towards the lower end of the scale". Patton appeared in court as a first offender.
Daily Record
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Record
Council leader asks for local views on year-round express bus from East Kilbride to Glasgow
East Kilbride currently has no express bus service to the city centre while other near-by towns such as Hamilton and Strathaven do. There's a case for an all-year-round express bus from East Kilbride to Glasgow – says Lanarkshire Labour's Joe Fagan and he wants to know your views. The East Kilbride councillor and Scottish Parliamentary candidate is asking the community to get in touch to let him know their views after mixed reports about the express service provided as a rail replacement service during electrification works. Road works and rush hour traffic meant some passengers paid expensive fares for a slow service but outwith peak times other passengers reported speedy, comfortable services right into the city centre. East Kilbride currently has no express bus service to the city centre while other near-by towns such as Hamilton and Strathaven do. Fagan, council leader for South Lanarkshire, said: 'There is a compelling case for a more appropriately priced express bus service between East Kilbride and Glasgow City Centre, if an operator is prepared to take it up. "The rail replacement service isn't perfect – it takes too long at rush hour and it is pricier than normal bus services – but outwith peak times it delivered people into the city centre quickly. Other nearby towns have express services into the city centre but East Kilbride, the largest town in the area, does not. There could be real demand for a more affordable express service. 'There are benefits to having an electrified rail line but the Scottish Government dropped the ball when they declined to double-track the whole line. What East Kilbride is getting out of the upgrade is an improvement – but not a transformation. We have already lost out on Crossrail and on double-tracking. "The rail line will get better but it will still just be an end-to-end service. If we want more people taking public transport into the city, instead of the car, then we need to give them more options. Let's test the case for an express bus service." He added: 'This isn't just about connecting East Kilbride to Glasgow but also making it easier for people to come here from Glasgow to enjoy our town's restaurants, bars, conservation village and, in time, a new town centre. 'I want to see bus services across the whole town improved, with London or Manchester-style regulation of the bus network, but I also want us to explore specific changes deliverable in a much shorter timeframe. An express service from the bus station to George Square or Ingram Street could be just what we need to supplement the newly upgraded rail line and move us closer to metro-level transport for the town.' *Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here. And did you know Lanarkshire Live is on Facebook? Head on over and give us a like and share!
