9am Briefing: Parking fines to be raised to £100

PARKING fines are set to be raised to £100 in Edinburgh and across Scotland in an effort to deter offenders and boost revenue for cash-strapped councils.

Ministers are considering the increase from 60 in a bid to reduce the number of illegally parked vehicles and to help pay for the rising cost of appeal and extra staff costs.

But Edinburgh's transport convener Gordon Mackenzie said he believed fines were high enough.

Birthday bonus for Boyle

SINGING sensation Susan Boyle is set to pick up a huge birthday present - a 4 million royalties cheque.

The Britain's Got Talent singer from Blackburn in West Lothian will become a multi-millionaire on her 49th birthday when she receives her first major payout.

The singer is said to be planning to splash out on a luxury house in her hometown.

It is also reported that SuBo is planning to design her own tartan and use it on her official clothing range and other memorabilia.

Horse back on the menu

A RESTAURANT in the Capital has put horse back on the menu in Scotland for the first time in more than 70 years.

Frenchman Fred Berkmiller, who owns L'Escargot Bleu in Broughton Street, has imported a rump of horse from Paris and diners at the restaurant got their first taste of it last week.

Three hospitalised in Meadows flat fire

THREE people were taken to the Royal Infirmary with smoke inhalation after a fire broke out in a block of flats in the Meadows.

The fire started in the common stair of the four-storey block on Boroughloch Square at around 3.30am on Sunday. The two men and one woman were all thought to be in their thirties.