A SCOTTISH town has had sand kicked in its face after tourism bosses gave them a best beach award – and then withdrew it the next day.
Keep Scotland Beautiful delighted residents of Kinghorn, Fife, on Tuesday with the award for their clean and sustainable beach.
But things turned ugly the following day when Keep Scotland Beautiful was forced to pull the award because they had been “incorrectly advised”.
Rubbing salt water into the wound, they confirmed that the bathing water classification at the town’s Harbour Beach for 2017 is actually “poor”.
Keep Scotland Beautiful apologised for the blunder and said they hoped to be able to make the award for real one day.
Gordon Langlands, Labour councillor for the area, said: “I thought it was a bit humourous.
“Not many people knew we’d won the award before it was taken away luckily.
“I got an email saying we’d won and then another not long after saying it had been taken away.
“We are going to work together to try and fix the problems preventing the beach winning the award so we can get it next time around.”
Speaking to the Fife Free Press, Alan McIlravie, chairman of the community council, said:
“There was no malice intended and it was a simple clerical error.
“We’re working to rectify the problem and this has made us more determined to achieve the status next time round.”
The Beach Awards are considered the benchmark for quality beaches across Scotland and are given to beaches which are well managed and used by people from around the country.
A spokesman for Keep Scotland Beautiful said: “We regret that the Harbour was incorrectly advised of its award status.
“We appreciate that the community will be bitterly disappointed. However, we are working with local stakeholders to ensure we can welcome the beach back as an award winner in the future.”
