High winds caused traffic mayhem across Scotland yesterday as gusts of up to 90mph battered the country.

JULIA HORTON and MARTIN WILLIAMS

High winds caused traffic mayhem across Scotland yesterday as gusts of up to 90mph battered the country.

There were restrictions on the Forth Road Bridge, Erskine Bridge and Tayside Bridge. Traffic Scotland issued weather warnings of strong winds by late yesterday afternoon, which were in force till 9pm last night covering much of Strathclyde, Lothian and Borders, Fife, Tayside and Northern Constabulary areas.

While the winds were expected to ease overnight the Met Office were warning of further strong south-westerly winds today through much of Scotland, gale-force in the Highlands, Orkney and Shetland, with heavy rain also expected.

The winds claimed one life. At Whitburn in West Lothian a tree toppled, struck a van, and crushed the driver, a man in his 20s, to death.

In the west of the country the Erskine Bridge was closed to all vehicles as wind speeds of over 70mph were recorded, while in the east the Forth Road Bridge was open only to cars as gusts reached as much as 80mph at times.

In Dundee doubledecker buses were barred from using the Tay Road Bridge because of similar safety concerns.

Worst-hit was Shetland where gales reached 90mph at times, stranding passengers booked on the early evening Lerwick to Aberdeen ferry which was set to be delayed until the early hours of today.

NorthLink Ferries was also forced to cancel both Pentland Firth sailings between Scrabster on the mainland and Stromness in Orkney as severe wind and rain tore across land and sea.

On the west coast, Caledonian MacBrayne had to cancel several morning sailings yesterday because of the "adverse conditions" including the link from Mallaig to Armadale in Skye and from Wemyss Bay to Rothesay. High winds are thought to have led to the closure yesterday of a busy street in the west end of Glasgow after metal fell from a building.

Pedestrians and motorists were denied access to Byres Road between Great Western Road and University Avenue as the city council worked to make the building safe.

Thunderstorms struck in the north-west Highlands where around three inches of rain fell, landing as snow on the hills.

Forecasters yesterday said the extent of the adverse weather was out of the ordinary as they stressed that the worst was over for now.

A spokesman at the Met Office said yesterday: "It is quite unusual that so much of the country is affected by the strong winds and heavy rain, although it is within the boundaries of a normal Scottish winter.

"It has started to calm down a bit now and there will be a gradual decrease with winds easing considerably by this evening."

However, he added that Shetland could see further high winds tonight with gusts of up to 70mph possible.

Despite the severity of the weather coastguards, police and fire services on the islands said there had been no notable incidents related to the conditions.

Meanwhile, two crashes caused chaos for commuters around Glasgow yesterday afternoon.

Travel restrictions were put in place after five vehicles collided on the M8 near the Kingston Bridge around 2pm. An hour later, at junction 12 westbound, two vehicles were involved in a collision. There were no reports of injuries in either incident.