Sheriff Court: Fort William

Fort William

An unusual time to get up for me.  At five in the morning the little radio alarm goes off and ten minutes later I struggle out of bed.  A plan to leave the house at six for Fort William about three and a half hours away seems on course.

F has an interpreting job in the Sheriff Court, something about one of several witnesses having been exploited by their boss and deciding to press charges against him.  He had brought them over from Bangladesh and was paying them below the minimum wage.  Probably, some other factors were involved like holding on to their passports, providing poor accommodation, not paying their national insurance, the kind of things that people do to gain power over their employees.

F isn't sure what the charges are until she gets there, but that doesn't matter as her job as an interpreter is simply to liaise between the lawyers for the defense and the prosecution and the client.

Actually, the case had something to do with visas and sounded like a scam to get staff over from Bangladesh to work for their food.

At 6.10 we are ready to go and with the empty roads ahead of us we are on the M9 in 15 minutes from our house.

The first stop is in Tyndrum 85.9 miles from home before the climb up to Auch and Bridge of Orchy.  Buy a cheese sandwich which I'm sure is left over from the previous day and have to throw half of it away.  The Polish girl working at the counter is not to blame.  She's come all the way over from Poland to serve me a stale sandwich on a cold, Scottish morning.

Outside the cafe I spot the most amazing bike, a Triumph Rocket III.  Tyndrum is a place where the bikers from all over Europe usually gather before they take to the winding road to Fort William.  The bike is immaculate and apparently, according to the rider, one of only a few of its kind.

I thought they had stopped making Triumph bikes in UK.

On to Fort William and memories of previous visits to this busy town.  But the streets are empty and there is an atmosphere of a once popular run-down high street with the usual supermarkets just outside the centre. The tourist tat shops aren't doing well and over-charge the customers, maybe trying to maximise their profits.

At the end of the day, when the case is finished till the accused is recalled, we head back to Edinburgh, tired and weary.