Mystery glitch sees Glasgow get Inspiring Capital's e-mail

Staff at the Destination Edinburgh Marketing Alliance (DEMA), the marketing body for Edinburgh, said they were "baffled" after being told e-mail links for their communications officer, communications manager and their general media department were all being re-routed to the inbox of Moira Dyer, the head of public relations at the Glasgow City Marketing Bureau (GCMB), instead.

DEMA stated that the website had not been hacked, and the company which operates the site put the fault down to "an administrative error".

The glitch was fixed within hours of the Evening News contacting DEMA, but no answer has been given as to what caused the problem or how long the incorrect links were in place.

A spokeswoman at DEMA said it had not affected any corporate e-mails or the running of the organisation, and added: "This administrative error seems to have originated with the company that have been outsourced to handle our online media system.

"We are looking into the glitch, which did not affect any consumer enquiries, and the error was immediately rectified as soon as we were made aware of it."

The DEMA website is operated by London-based PR and Communications company Glide Technologies, who work with organisations including Sony, ebay, O2, Network Rail, Waitrose and the British Transport Police.

A member of staff at Glide said the problem had been rectified as soon as they were told about it.

Moira Dyer, who was, for a while at least, the contact for both Edinburgh and Glasgow marketing operations was also unable to shed any light on the matter.

Councillor Andrew Burns, leader of the Labour group on the council, said: "I don't doubt it is a genuine error but it hardly inspires confidence when the website of the brand set up to market the Capital around the world is directing people to our biggest rivals."