Crane climbing youth sparks security alert

Politicians are calling for an inquiry into how the youth managed the scale the massive structure at the Holyrood site before he was noticed.

Emergency services were on the scene for more than three hours last night trying to rescue the 15-year-old.

He is thought to have absconded from a children’s home in England. The youngster was described by rescue workers as "blas" about his climb when brought down, but was taken to hospital suffering from exposure.

The embarrassing security breach comes just a month after police swooped on the site to quiz workers over benefit cheating.

Opposition politicians today united in calls for an urgent safety review following the incident. Liberal Democrat MSP Donald Gorrie, a leading critic of the parliament project, said: "These kind of stunts can lead to copycat incidents and it’s very important that this is looked at very carefully.

"Obviously, on a building site it is very difficult to make it completely secure but this sounds like a very serious incident. It really is a wake-up call to the people in charge of this project.

"From this boy’s point of view it probably seemed like a great lark but he has caused a lot of trouble and a lot of people have had to put themselves at risk to rescue him."

Tory MSP Brian Monteith added: "A security review is obviously needed after this.

"If a teenager can get into the building site and climb up a crane without anyone noticing what is to stop a group of political demonstrators doing the same thing and draping banners over the parliament building?

"This is yet another significant embarrassment for the parliament project."

But a spokesman for the parliament today insisted everything possible was being done on the advice of Lothian and Borders Police to keep the site secure.

He added: "If someone is determined to get into the site and climb up a crane it is difficult to do anything about it. We’re confident that the security measures that are in place on the site are appropriate."

However, SNP MSP Margo MacDonald said: "I can’t believe the parliament is saying there’s nothing that could have been done to prevent it. That’s just completely stupid. Do you think Holyrood Palace would say the same thing? Of course they wouldn’t."

Lothian and Borders Fire Brigade said the alarm was raised by construction workers on the site at around 7.30pm when they spotted the youngster at the top of the crane. Assistant divisional officer Alan Scott made his way up an adjacent building to a scaffolding tower where a police negotiator using a loudhaler tried to speak to the teenager.

Mr Scott said: "He seemed quite blas about the whole thing and at no point did he threaten to jump down.

"Eventually, because of the cold weather and the rain, he agreed to come down and a line rescue team had to climb up the crane to try to retrieve him.

"He had been up there for around two hours when we got to him and had he had become much quieter as time wore on.

"We knew he wouldn’t be able to be walked down so it was decided another crane would have to be moved over and that we would bring him down in a basket using ropes and harnesses.

"The rescue wasn’t over until 11pm and although it was a successful operation it could have easily had more serious consequences for the boy involved and the firefighters who climbed up to rescue him."

Line rescue supervisor David Purves added: "When I was climbing up the crane my mind was on reaching the boy and it was only when I reached him that it sunk it what he had done.

"He was cold and just as I got up there, the rain started, which obviously was not good. He told me had had done it on a whim."

The Evening News understands the boy vanished from a children’s home in Torquay two weeks ago because he was due to be moved into alternative accommodation.

A police source said he had run away to Manchester where he had carried out a similar stunt by climbing a crane in the city.

Although social workers from Torquay went to retrieve him there he refused to return with them and is thought to have made his way to Edinburgh by train.

Devon and Cornwall Police, who had not reported the boy as missing, have been notified of the incident in Edinburgh last night.

A spokeswoman for Lothian and Borders Police said the teenager, who has not yet been charged with any offence, was kept in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary overnight for observation.