The 30-year-old man from Aberdeen had admitted driving erratically at excessive speed, mounting a kerb and then driving through a fence and a garden before driving through a second fence.
He was fined at Aberdeen Sheriff Court in 2009, but after paying less than a quarter of the total, he stopped payment in April last year.
Following warning letters, Scottish Court Service Enforcement Officers took steps to serve an Earnings Arrestment Order on him and his employers are now making high monthly deductions from his wages to pay his fine directly to the Court.
A Scottish Court Service report published today shows that fine collection rates across Scotland remain high. Collection is pursued through effective enforcement measures which include arresting wages and bank accounts, deducting benefits and clamping cars.
To date, 20 cars have been clamped nationwide which has led to the majority of defaulters paying both their original fines in addition to clamping costs.
“Defaulters cannot escape their fines and we have robust enforcement measures in place to ensure payment is collected” said SCS Executive Director of Field Service, Eric McQueen.
“Since the first Fines Report released last year by the SCS, collection rates have risen steadily. People with outstanding fines are recognising more and more that there is nowhere to hide and they could be next.”
Other enforcement measures include tracing facilities which provide information on aliases, employment history, bank accounts and credit cards to identify defaulters quickly, and working closely with the Department of Work and Pensions to speed up benefit deductions.
Via: www.stv.tv U.K. Edition
The bridge — opened in 1937 — has two main cables that pass over the tops of the two main towers and are secured at either end in giant anchorages. They are the steel strings that hold the bridge together and support the roadway.
“We redid the vertical suspender cables in the 1970s and the roadway itself in the 1980s, but this is the first time the main cables will be renovated in this manner,” said Mary Currie, bridge district spokeswoman.
Each of the 3-foot diameter cables is made up of 27,572 individual galvanized steel wires wrapped inside a casing, which is painted for protection from the harsh elements. The length of one main cable is 7,650 feet, and 80,000 miles of individual wires were used in their construction. Along with the suspender cables and accessories, the main cables weigh 24,500 tons.
While the cables are tested for strength, they have not been completely painted in more than 70 years.
Once the scaffolding arrives midspan and is set up in the coming weeks, crews will embark on the three-year project, which will include cleaning the exterior of the main cable and roughing the surface so new sealing paint can be applied, as well as making any additional repairs.
The work will begin on the west side main cable. Scaffolding will be erected along the 400-foot-long segment from midspan south toward San Francisco. Workers will then work in 60-foot segments underneath a tarp that will keep lead paint chips coming off the cables from spreading.
They will spend up to six months renovating the 400-foot section. The scaffolding will be disassembled and reassembled along a 400-foot-long segment heading north from midspan toward Marin. Workers will then renovate that segment for another six months. In the coming two years, the rest of the cables will be renovated as well.
While this work is under way on the west side cable, the fixed scaffolding will reduce the west sidewalk width from 10 feet to seven feet for the 400-foot stretch. Bicyclists may be asked to walk their bikes through the work area.
The scaffolding is costing the district $100,000. Initially the district had planned to contract the work out at a cost of $30 million, but will now rely on its own workers for the project.
“This is a great project for us to take on in-house, especially in the face of the financial challenges that so many public agencies are facing,” said Denis Mulligan, bridge general manager.
Via: 
TWO men have been arrested after scaffolding was stolen from outside a house in Hapsford.
Police arrested a 14-year-old from Elton, and a 20-year-old male from Ellesmere Port, after the scaffolding went missing from a house being renovated on Friday (February 18) afternoon.
Both men, who live on caravan sites in the area, are set to appear before Chester Magistrates on Wednesday, March 9. 
Linda Clarke, Professor of European Industrial Relations at Westminster University, is calling for former or retired builders to contact her for the oral history project.
“The work of architects in the 50s and 60s is pretty well known”, said Professor Clarke.
“There are plenty of sound archives in the British Library about archi tects. But very little has been recorded about the builders. Yet they were equally proud of their achievements and concerned with the quality of their work.”
The history project has been funded by the Leverhulme Foundation and will record the lives of 50 or 60 workers.
Veteran construction worker Vic Heath, now in his 70s, has already been interviewed. He was a leading communist and was a scaffolder on the Barbican estate development who later became a shop steward with Camden Council’s Direct Labour force.
There were many disputes among the men working on the Barbican development. They held the first ever action over the handling by workers of deadly asbestos. They were not paid well compared to today and there were disputes over bonuses.
Professor Clarke added: “There was little in the way of the health and safety regime that we know today. That didn’t come in until 1974.”
Construction teams were often made up from sizeable pockets of Irish, Caribbean and Sikh labour. If you worked on the Barbican estate, South Bank arts centre, Stevenage New Town, Sizewell A power station, or the Northfleet power station, please email Professor Clarke at 