A pensioner has been banned from Dundee City Council golf clubs after making offensive homophobic remarks to course staff.
William Webster claims he did nothing wrong when he engaged a teenage girl working at Caird Park Golf Club in a conversation aboutlesbianism.
The 75-year-old was suspended from playing for one year by Leisure and Culture Dundee chiefs after staff took offence to his comments.
Mr Webster claims that he asked the girl how she got on with another womanconnected to the club, before informing her she was a lesbian and married to a woman.
When the girl stated she was aware of the situation, Mr Webster replied: “Well I hope there’s no tampering with you.”
Mr Webster said: “I don’t have anything against homosexuals. I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong. It was a privateconversation. I wasn’t intending to offend anyone. It was just a flippant remark.”
Mr Webster stated he was visited at 10pm the same evening, September 1, by two police officers who advised him he wassuspended from the golf course.
He said: “The next morning I phoned the golf membership office and asked forclarification. They advised that they had no knowledge of any suspension and I was free to play and someone would phone if it were different.
“That afternoon as me and my friends limped around the course we were approached by a man who said he was the golf manager investigating a complaint.”
Mr Webster was asked to repeat theconversation at Caird Park and was then asked to leave the course until an investigation was completed into his conduct.
Two weeks later he received a letter advising him the investigation wascomplete and he was excluded from using council golf facilities for 12 months.
“I am a widower who lives on my own after my wife died,” he said.“The only thing I have in my life is golf. It gives me social contact and the exercise I need to combat my arterial disease and high blood pressure.”
A spokesman for Leisure and Culture Dundee said: “Our staff should not have to face abuse or intimidation of any kind when they are at work. We do not tolerate this sort of behaviour.”
A police spokesman said they were aware of an incident that was reported on September 1 in relation to inappropriate comments made at Caird Park Golf Course.