High winds cause chaos and bunker star golf

Published on Saturday 3 October 2009 19:43

GALES swept across much of Scotland yesterday leaving a trail of havoc and causing a prestigious golf tournament to be abandoned for the day.

The Met Office issued a warning of "severe or extreme weather" and predicted gusts of 70mph to 75mph across exposed western parts of Scotland, the Western Isles and the Highlands.

The Alfred Dunhill Links Championships, in which a host of celebrities team up with golfing stars, was stopped for the day as all three of its venues – St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns – were declared unplayable after predictions of gust of up to 70mph.

An aircraft at Glasgow Airport was grounded after a sudden blast of wind blew a baggage trolley into its side, leaving a hole "the size of a child's fist" in its fuselage.

A spokeswoman for BAA which operates Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen Airports, said the incident happened around 2pm as the baggage trolley was loading luggage onto a Flyglobespan flight bound for Alicante.

Shoppers in Glasgow city centre were also affected after part of Argyle Street in the city's west end was closed off as masonry fell from a building.

Windows were also blown out of the 19th-century Fish Market building in the Briggait, in the city with broken glass landing on pavements.

A passer-by escaped injury after a piece of roof blew off the Co-op supermarket in Helensburgh.