Inverness cops target man for offence in city while he was at home on Lewis

A FORMER oil rig boss is furious at cops who tried to impose a fine on him for an alleged street incident in Inverness.

However, Morris Macleod claimed he knew nothing about the incident in September and it was only when he produced telephone records to prove he wasn’t even in the city that day that proceedings against him were dropped.

They still haven’t told me what I was supposed to have done in Inverness – Morris Macleod

Now he is fighting for a proper explanation of how he was wrongly targeted and says he will take his case to the Scottish Parliament to stop it happening to anyone else.

The recently-retired North Sea offshore installation manager, from Newmarket near Stornoway, says he came up against a wall of bureaucracy put up by intransigent officials when he told them they had the wrong man.

He said: “This has been a catalogue of mistakes by the forces of law and order from start to finish. At first, the court office did not want to know about my complaints. Eventually, they said it was just a “computer error”. I did not accept that and kept on at them.
“Then they washed their hands off it and said it was all the fault of Northern Constabulary. For six days, I was not being taken seriously as everyone involved denied responsibility. It was really getting to me. I couldn’t sleep because of the stress.
“However, once I got the press involved, these agencies began to examine my complaints properly and Northern Constabulary seems to have put their hands up.”

After returning home a week ago, Morris, 66, found a demand for £60 on his mat for failing to pay a fixed penalty for an incident on Chapel Street, Inverness, on September 29. When he complained, he was told he had to pay it.

He said: “I realised I was at home here on the Isle of Lewis that day. I printed out the phone calls I made that day from home from the BT website and took the list to Stornoway police station. They checked and told me the penalty had actually been paid by a man from Elgin.”
“So not only was I wrongly pursued, as I was not involved, but the penalty had actually been paid. At least two serious errors which I was firstly told was down to some dodgy computer.”

Morris said he has now been contacted by an acting chief inspector who agreed what had happened to him was “unacceptable” and he had taken necessary steps to prevent a repetition. The officer also gave him an assurance his personal details relating to the offence were being expunged from their database.

He said: “They still haven’t told me what I was supposed to have done in Inverness.”

Northern Constabulary yesterday (THU) confirmed it was a case of mistaken identity but did not explain how it came about. It said: “The error was an administrative one and we have apologised for any inconvenience. The person who made the error has been given suitable advice.”

The spokesman added that Morris’s data had been removed from their systems.

However, Morris is still far from happy at what he says was a complete lack of urgency by the police and said he may yet take the matter up with Justice Secretary Kenny Macaskill.

He said: “Why did they take six days to reply to me? First of all, the court office said it was a computer error. If they are in charge of computers which are making errors, that is a serious matter. Who else is a victim?
“Now the police are blaming an individual who has been given “advice”. Which is the true story?”

Alasdair Allan, the islands’ MSP, whose help had been enlisted by Morris, said: “I can understand why he was upset about this case of mistaken identity and hope the police have now taken steps to avoid any future recurrence.”