SECURITY measures at the Forth Road Bridge are set to be tightened after a toll booth operator had water containing solvent squirted in her face from a pump-action water gun.
Mrs Lynda McArthur, 38, whose vision was temporarily blurred after a stinging sensation affected her eyes, was taken to hospital after buzzing the bridge's operations room to raise the alarm.
Last night, police officers criticised the action of a male passenger in a transit van who leant over the driver, to whom she was giving change, and squirted the liquid from the two-feet long gun.
A spokesman for Lothian and Borders police said: ``This appears to have been a childish prank that went badly wrong and it is fortunate the woman did not sustain serious eye injuries.''
A report on the incident is to go to the next meeting of the Bridge Joint Board and management has discussed it with the Transport and General Workers' Union.
Depute general manager Barry Colford said it was a matter of some urgency. ``The incident was of great concern and we are looking at ways of possibly improving security and safeguarding staff. We would not want a recurrence.''
Mrs McArthur, from South Queensferry, said: ``It happened so quickly. I was very frightened when it started stinging. At first I couldn't open my eyes.''
The van - a dark blue L-registered Ford Transit - was registered to Swift Van Rental.
The driver is in his early 30s, with collar-length blond hair, a moustache, and a chubby face. The man with the gun is also in his early 30s, of thin build, tanned complexion, and short brown hair.
Why are you making commenting on HeraldScotland only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereCommments are closed on this article