9am Briefing: Ex-fire chief got £350,000 retirement payout before restarting same job

THE former chief fire officer for the Lothians was given a £350,000 retirement pay-out before being re-appointed to the same post just days later.

Brian Allaway, the former firemaster at Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service, retired on September 13 but was then re-employed as firemaster just eight days later under the "abatement" scheme.

He retired pemanently in June this year after a nine-month stint.

Jazz festival gets into the swing

THE Capital got into the swing as the jazz festival kicked off at the Grassmarket at the weekend.

Music fans and passers-by gathered to see the first of more than 100 events and 42,000 thousand individual performances over the next ten days.

The line-up caters for every genre of jazz, ranging from the earliest blues to the latest interpretations by some of the world's top musicians.

Greenlight for poster plan

THE number of official festival flyposting sites in the Capital is to be doubled following the success of a pilot project.

More than 900 sites have been authorised for legal advertising by the city council this month under a joint project with a major postering firm, which also removes illegal flyposting from around the city.

Officials have given the go-ahead for the rolling out of new circular poster drums, temporary fencing and advertising boards to be attached on to railings at sites across the city centre.

Man in hospital after lifeboat plunge

A MAN was taken to hospital after the lifeboat he was working in fell from its parent ship into the water below.

The 36-year-old had been aboard one of the ship's tenders when it plunged 25ft, leaving him stranded.

The vessel was anchored at Leith's Imperial Dock when the incident took place on Saturday at 11:10am.

Firefighters used line equipment to get to the man, who suffered lower back injuries, before bringing him ashore on a rescue board.