By Kirsty Topping
AN Independent MSP has vowed to track down pranksters who ticketed her mobility scooter on a Holyrood corridor.
Margo MacDonald has been trialling the vehicle at the parliament for three days but a photo posted online yesterday suggested she had fallen foul of Edinburgh’s notorious “yellow meanies”.
Double yellow lines appeared on Holyrood’s floors and a convincing parking ticket was slapped on Margo’s handlebars in the elaborate hoax.
The picture appeared on the Twitter feed of the Scottish Tories top spin doctor, Ramsay Jones, though the identity of the jokers is unclear.
GOOD HUMOUR
However Ms MacDonald took the joke in good spirit, even if she was initially worried about the prospect of a hefty fine.
She said: “I’m not a driver so I was a bit dumfounded and was thinking ‘oh God, it’s beside yellow lines…’ but then the penny dropped and I said ‘Come on Margo and get a grip’.
“Our debates can sometimes have a funny effect on your sense of reality.”
Mr Jones posted a link to the comical image along with the comment “. . . the MargoMobile was ‘caught’ in the Black and White corridor in Holyrood”.
REVENGE
Ms MacDonald had been careful to “park” her scooter sensibly before attending yesterday’s Budget review but returned to find the bright yellow notice.
“I did everything right as far as I know, I parked it out of people’s way so they would not bump into it,” she said.
While seeing the funny side, the formidable politician has now vowed to track down those responsible for the wind-up.
“I have got small select group of about a 100 people it could have been,” she said.
“I think, but I might be wrong, that it was a grand conspiracy. Every single members of parliament staff that I passed in the afternoon had huge smiles on their faces and tapped the side of their nose when they saw me.
“I thought it might have been about some concession from John Swinney’s budget but by the time I came out of the parliament I was slightly worried because I realised that whatever was going on it had something to do with me.”
