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Scottish Sun
an hour ago
- Automotive
- Scottish Sun
Major motorway CLOSED both ways near Glasgow as road locked down for hours
MOTORWAY MAYHEM Major motorway CLOSED both ways near Glasgow as road locked down for hours A MAJOR Scottish motorway has been closed in both directions following a crash. The M77 northbound was initially locked down before 1am this morning between junction 5 and 6. 1 A short time later, it was then shut both ways. The closure has since been extended from junction 5 to junction 8 northbound and southbound. Drivers have been warned that surrounding routes are heavily congested. Long delays are also expected in the area and traffic is currently at a standstill on approach. Traffic Scotland wrote on X: "The M77 remains closed in both directions between J5-J8 due to a road traffic collision. "Surrounding routes are heavily congested due to traffic diverting with long delays expected and standstill traffic on approach." More to follow... For the latest news on this story keep checking back at The Scottish Sun. is your go to destination for the best celebrity news, football news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video. Like us on Facebook at and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheScottishSun.
Scottish Sun
2 days ago
- Scottish Sun
Shocking moment boozy Scots wife crashes husband's Ferrari after downing prosecco as she's filmed staggering out of car
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) THIS is the moment a boozed-up Scots woman crashes her husband's Ferrari after downing prosecco with friends. Claire Taddei, 47, has today admitted crashing the sports car, worth up to £209,000, while driving her friend home while drunk. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 4 Claire Taddei ploughed the flash sports car into another motor Credit: Supplied/The Scottish Sun 4 The 47-year-old was more than twice over the drink drive limit Credit: Supplied/The Scottish Sun 4 Cops were alerted around midnight when Taddei smashed the top-of-the-range vehicle Credit: Supplied/The Scottish Sun 4 Claire Taddei was driving her husband Dom's car at the time of the incident Credit: Andrew Barr The mortgage firm boss, from Melrose, ploughed the flash car into another motor after boozing with pals and while more than twice over the drink drive limit. The smash occurred on Market Square in the centre of Melrose, Roxburghshire, on February 23, 2025. Cops were alerted around midnight when Taddei, a chief financial officer, smashed the top-of-the-range Ferrari 458 Spider. She failed a roadside breath test and was arrested and charged, before being taken to hospital with a suspected concussion. A urine test later showed that it contained 138 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitre of urine, over twice the legal amount of 67 milligrams of booze. Today, she pleaded guilty at Selkirk Sheriff Court to driving while over the limit. The court heard that the mother-of-four had walked to a friend's house with another pal to celebrate their new job. Arriving at the property around 8pm, Taddei's lawyer, Laurelle Johnstone, told the court that her client "shared two bottles of prosecco and her other friend had a bottle of wine." She added that Taddei "thinks she may have had a glass of wine on top of the prosecco". Ms Johnstone said: "The friend she walked there with became intoxicated and they left around 10.30pm to walk home. She [Taddei] knew she [her friend] was intoxicated but didn't realise how intoxicated she had become. Shock moment wedding guest convoy leaps out their supercars & erupt into bizarre road rage row "Her friend began to fall over after around 10 minutes. By that time, it was wet and dark and they had two dogs with them. "Ms Taddei was taking the lead and trying to support her friend. She was concerned about them walking over a pedestrian bridge over the river and then her friend fell again. "At that time, Ms Taddei panicked. She tried to call her mum and dad but they had also been drinking but offered to let her friend stay the night. When she tried to get her friend up to do that, she wasn't cooperative. "Her friend had a son and was anxious to get home." Ms Johnstone told the court that Taddei had called and messaged her parents and another friend between 10.44pm and 11.22pm. She said: "No one was able to assist and she got herself in a state of panic. She ran home with the dogs to get her car. "She said she put her friend in the recovery position on the grass and drove her husband's car. "She had driven it only once. It's a Ferrari and is particularly responsive. "Her husband had left it in sports mode. She drove back and only got one mile down the road before colliding with another vehicle. "She was in a state of panic. She was not thinking rationally and deeply regrets it. "When the car stopped, she became aware of six or seven people who came out of a pub. They were hurling abuse at her and she felt vulnerable. "She has been open and honest about the events. She attended the GP on the Monday morning and was diagnosed with whiplash. "She also suffered several panic attacks. This is a decision that is extremely out of character and she will suffer the consequences for a significant period of time." Ms Johnstone told the court that Taddei, from Melrose, has not driven since the crash. But the brief said that her client has an adult son with autism and her driving ban hampers the care she offers him during the week in Edinburgh. Ms Johnstone added that Taddei is a "woman who's never been in trouble with the police before" and handed a letter to Sheriff Sinclair that her client had written. She also told the court that, due to being intoxicated, her client's insurer wouldn't cover the damage to both vehicles. Ms Johnstone said she had already shelled out £50,000 for repairs to the Ferrari. Sentencing Taddei, Sheriff Sinclair ordered her to pay a fine of £900, down from £1,200. He also told her that her driving ban would be reduced from 12 months to 9 months if she completes a drink driving course. Taddei is co-founder of Mortgage Advice Bureau's network partner in Scotland. She has run the business as chief financial officer alongside her husband for around 20 years.
Scottish Sun
2 days ago
- Health
- Scottish Sun
The Sandie Peggie-NHS Fife trans row shows SNP's adoration of public sector can be misplaced
LAST week Sandie Peggie was cleared of gross misconduct allegations. The nurse had endured an 18-month probe after complaining about sharing a women's changing room with a trans doctor. But she is still locked in an employment tribunal battle with the health board, which suspended her for challenging the decision to allow Dr Beth Upton into the female changing area. Dr Upton then made a bullying allegation against her. Today, political commentator Chris Deerin says state workers have long been put on a pedestal by the SNP. And, writing for The Scottish Sun, he says the medical debacle has allowed Scots to see the inner workings of the public sector – and it doesn't make for pretty viewing. IF there's one opinion that could be said to have defined the recent history of devolution, it's 'public sector good, private sector bad'. In the eyes of our politicians, state workers seem to be able to do no wrong. They are given inflation-busting pay rises and benefit from the kind of pensions and job security that make the rest of us drool. 3 Sandie Peggie departs the tribunal Credit: Getty 3 Dr Beth Upton Credit: Alamy The SNP, in particular, has made itself a friend of the public sphere. It knows that to keep up support for independence, it has to keep these people on side. And so it has done everything it can to avoid falling out with doctors, nurses, teachers, police officers, firefighters and council employees — even where the service provided has been well below par. Not a week goes by without praise being lauded on those working in the NHS or in the classroom. These people, we are led to believe, are special — they are different from the rest of us, driven by some special moral purpose that elevates them to a higher level of appreciation. NATS health secretary Neil Gray today failed to back nurse Sandie Peggie amid a row over single-sex space We've all had cause to be grateful to a GP or to our kid's teacher. There are some truly outstanding individuals in the public sector, with a deeply felt vocation to do good for others. But they're not all like that, are they? We've also all experienced a doctor who treats you with barely concealed contempt and can't get you out of the surgery fast enough. We've watched our children struggle under teachers who clearly should have been fired long ago and who are out of the door every evening as soon as school is finished. And many of us who have worked in the private sector will have experience of brilliant people who are driven not just by what's in it for them, but for how they can help their colleagues and how their organisation can benefit society. Over my career, largely spent in the profit-producing part of the economy, I've had bosses and colleagues of all sorts — some of them genuinely inspiring and brilliant at what they do, with deep consciences. They go the extra mile, just as much as a stand-out performer in the state sector. Others have been driven solely by personal ambition, while some have been absolute turkeys (they didn't last). Such is the warp and weft of humanity. For the most part, though, people are motivated by a complex mix of things, whichever sector of the jobs market they're in. Folk want to get on and to feel valued. They like to feel that what they do is worthwhile. They want to provide for their families and enjoy a reasonable standard of living. All of that, and more. But if you work in the private sector under the SNP and listen to the Greens, and at times in the past even the Labour Party, you might have felt like a second-class citizen — as if what you do is somehow less worthy of respect. At times, it felt like Nicola Sturgeon had no time at all for business and was only comfortable in the company of leftie social-justice warriors like her. It's the private sector that drives economic growth, that relentlessly innovates, that finds solutions and is responsible for a huge share of the tax revenue that funds our public services. If our country is to thrive, we need that sector to be supported, to be encouraged, to be allowed to thrive. And yet it is treated with suspicion by too many in our political class. 'Wealth creation' is regarded as a dirty phrase. Entrepreneurs are viewed as being a bit dodgy unless they can prove otherwise. Holyrood has too often viewed the private sector as a necessary evil rather than a national asset. It's madness. Is the public sector such a paragon? Just look at what is unfolding in the industrial tribunal that nurse Sandie Peggie has launched against NHS Fife. Peggie objected to having to undress in the same changing room as a transgender-identifying doctor, Beth Upton. The nurse was suspended and an investigation launched. Last week the health board's investigation was dropped, leaving Peggie in the clear. The tribunal continues, even though it's now hard to understand what NHS Fife's defence is, given its own inquiry has ended with no sanction. The health board is blankly carrying on — and having already spent more than £200,000 of our money, it will spend much more before this is over. It's hardly the first time we've seen the inner workings of the public sector and winced. It won't be the last. In the end the state and its employees have no special virtue beyond whether the service provided benefits Scotland. That's true of all of us, wherever we work, and it's past time this was understood.
Scottish Sun
3 days ago
- Business
- Scottish Sun
We were forced to abandon flooded homes – now we've been sent huge tax bills for empty properties
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) SHOCKED Storm Babet victims have been sent huge council tax bills — for empty houses. Householders were initially told the charges were being waived after they were forced out by devastating floods. 4 Storm Babet in October 2023 caused the River South Esk in Brechin, to burst its banks Credit: Alamy 4 Hundreds of homes were evacuated and devastated due to flooding Credit: Alamy 4 Members of the emergency services during the rescue efforts in Brechin, as Storm Babet battered the country Credit: PA Now officials have scrapped the exemption in Brechin two years on and are demanding immediate payments. One stunned homeowner was billed more than £2,300 for a house she has not lived in since October 2023. S He has been in temporary accommodation after fleeing when the River Esk burst its banks and poured into streets as a month's worth of rain fell in two days. The resident, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Scottish Sun: 'It was scary when the invoices arrived. 'I've got no idea how I'm going to pay this. I don't know anyone who has that kind of money sitting about in their bank account.' She revealed officials had repeatedly reassured her she would not have to pay council tax as she is registered for bills at her new digs. But a demand for almost £700 arrived to cover charges backdated to October 2024. Along with that came her next annual bill of £1,702. The resident remains in talks with officials and said they have agreed to pause the charges for now. She hit out: 'Why should I have to pay for services that I've not been getting for almost two years? My house doesn't have water or sewage, there's no power and no bins are being collected. It's nuts. We told how council tenants were rehomed but private occupants faced a nightmare with some still not back in their homes. Spain storm and hail warning as 100mm of rain falls in an hour at tourist hotspot Angus Council bosses revealed £485,000 in council tax and rent payments has been lost due to the storms. They said exemptions expired after 12 months. A spokesman said: 'There was a deliberate pause in re-billing. Officers will look at all of the affected cases and at each householder's particular circumstances.'
Scottish Sun
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Top stand-up comic slams Edinburgh Council over anti-Oasis snobbery after fans dubbed ‘fat' & ‘drunk
Scroll down to read what the comic made of the row POLITICAL mimic Matt Forde has blasted Edinburgh councillors for making a rotten impression with Oasis fans. The stand-up comic was left spitting mad when city chiefs branded the supergroup's followers 'fat', 'old', 'drunk' and 'lairy' ahead of their three sell-out gigs at Murrayfield in August, as exclusively revealed by The Scottish Sun. 5 Matt Forde provides the voice of Boris Johnson for Spitting Image. 5 Matt brings his new stand-up show Defying Gravity to the Fringe. 5 Matt in full stand-up mode. 5 Matt doing his hosting duties. And Matt - who does pitch perfect impressions of both Noel and Liam Gallagher - blasted back at 'snobby' officials for their attacks on Oasis fans like himself. He says: 'I just think a lot of people don't get Oasis. They basically think it's just a load of yobs. 'But do you know what? They wouldn't say that about any other group of people. They would only say that about white working class people. The snobbery of it is unreal. 'I went to the first Oasis gig in Cardiff the other week and it was joyous. It was phenomenal. And yes people were drinking but it was all happy stuff. 'There was no aggro, no edge, it was just a really good celebration.' He adds: 'So it's heartbreaking to think that all these excited people are going to come to Edinburgh, after spending a fortune on their Airbnbs, only for the authorities to basically say, 'you're a load of losers' and 'brace yourself for these Neanderthals marauding through the city.' 'Is that really how you talk about tourists coming to your place?' Matt will return to the Edinburgh Festival next month with his new show Defying Gravity. It comes after he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called chordoma at the end of his 2023 Fringe run which led to him having the bottom of his spine removed before learning to walk again. He has since had to have a stoma bag fitted for his bowel movements and has to 'self-catheterise' several times a day just to wee. Oasis kick off first Manchester homecoming gig after 16 years away But in the last year Norwich-born Matt has seen his party sweep to power with Sir Keir Starmer entering Downing Street while Scots Labour leader Anas Sarwar was heading for Bute House, until a run of disastrous policies, including axing the winter fuel allowance, saw their poll ratings tumble. Matt, 42, says: 'The show title is a pun on defying calamity which I guess in my own way I did by catching my cancer early. But as a result my body has changed, although I'm still mining that for material. 'But also politically, we are living in really perilous times where you've got a Labour government that is trying to sort things out but with Nigel Farage breathing down their necks with the reality of a Reform government. 'There are some people out there that believe that the Reform bubble will just sort of magically burst. I don't think that's how it works. 'I think there are certain things about Reform that may well prevent them becoming a government, but if all other options are exhausted - with the Tories basically dead at the moment along with Labour's self-inflicted calamities - you are sort of pushing the public towards an option that they may be uncomfortable with.' And Matt doesn't buy into the narrative churned out by SNP and Labour chiefs that the Reform party is full of right wing bigots. He maintains: 'Every party contains racists. I mean, the Labour Party went through a period where it was getting investigated by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission. Luckily those days are over. 'But the idea that one party has a monopoly on bigotry, is nonsense. I don't believe that most Reform voters are far right. A lot of them are ex-Labour and ex-SNP voters. 'It really makes me laugh when you get like the SNP saying, 'We'll have no nationalism in Scotland'. You're like, 'Have you read your own f***ing leaflets?' They have a cheek to attack Reform.' He adds: 'So I don't think all of a sudden Britain is full of fascists. 'There's a whole load of things that have led to their rise including, since the financial crash, life has been rubbish and people are skint and livid and they have every right to be.' During this year's run, Matt will also have a succession of big political hitters as special guests including former SNP MP Joanna Cherry - who claims she was sidelined by her party for her gender critical views - Scottish Secretary Ian Murray and controversial London mayor iSadiq Khan. He says: 'Joanna is still such a big deal in nationalist politics, and with everything that's happened with the Supreme Court ruling (that the word 'woman' means biological woman), she was just an irresistible figure to approach. 'Where the SNP went wrong was they tried to put things like self-ID through the constitutional debate, by saying 'if you are pro-independence then you must believe in self-ID at the age of 16.' 'But people were like, 'Hang on. That's mad - these are two completely different issues.' He adds: 'And I've known Ian Murray for years from when he used to be the lone Labour MP in Scotland, which shows you how quickly things can change in politics.' With that in mind, by the time Matt returns for next year's run, the Scottish elections will have been held next May. So does this political thinker believe we'll have a new First Minister in place of John Swinney? He says: 'I believe Anas Sarwar will be First Minister with a narrow Labour victory. He is a really charismatic individual. 'You can never write the SNP off as they are a formidable election winning machine in Scotland and given how the first year of Labour has been in Westminster, that obviously has helped the SNP to some extent. 'But I do think that having a Labour government still helps Scottish Labour because you can actually do stuff. And if Labour has a good year, I think Scottish Labour will win.' And Matt, who lives with his Glasgow-born wife Laura, will also be bringing with him some of his favourite impressions to Edinburgh including Boris Johnson, who he voices for TV's Spitting Image. But he also plans to have 'Noel and Liam' make a surprise appearance too. He says: 'I impersonated them for years but it started to feel slightly crowbarred in. But now they're back and everyone's talking about Oasis again, it means I can dust off the old stuff. 'Unfortunately it means hundreds of thousands of fans have been forced to choose between seeing Oasis at Murrayfield or coming to see me do them at the Edinburgh Festival.' *Matt Forde new stand-up show Defying Gravity is on at the Pleasance Beyond from July 30 - August 24. While his four Edinburgh Fringe Political Party Specials take place at the Gilded Balloon. For more info visit:
