‘Aggressive’ police scaring people while accompanying Viking convoys, meeting hears

Police officers travelling with the convoys to the Viking windfarm site are scaring people by ordering them off the road aggressively, a meeting heard on Tuesday night.

Viking Community Liaison Group chairman Andrew Archer said he was “surprised” to hear from one person who asked if the police could be less aggressive when dealing with the public.

The person said they had been left so “gluffed” they almost had an accident.

Another person had actually had an accident, the person alleged, after being “frightened by the police escort”.

Mr Archer said he had spoken to a few people who felt similarly – and that the police were acting like “something out of The Sweeney“.

“They’re being quite aggressive in pushing people off the road,” he said.

Viking project manager Aaron Priest said it was not for them to tell the police how to do their job.

Mr Archer said he should pass the feedback on to the police, but Mr Priest said he was not personally aware of any issues.

“Ultimately how Police Scotland do their job is up to Police Scotland,” he said.

The group’s chairman said this was “not a lone person’s view”, adding: “It surprised me how many people said, ‘yes, this person is right’.”