Dundee should not host police and fire control rooms which cover the north of Scotland because callers might not be able to understand the accent of workers in the city, it has been claimed.
Former police control room worker Jody Curtis and Inverness resident Laura Ross called for a review of a decision to close police and fire control rooms north of Dundee at Holyrood’s Public Petitions Committee on Tuesday.
Ms Curtis said the proposals could put the royal family and North Sea workers at risk by leaving facilities such as St Fergus gas plant and Peterhead power station more “vulnerable to terrorist attack”.
Ms Ross then highlighted the number of regional dialects and accents across the far north of Scotland and the islands including Norwegian and eastern European and insisted a communication breakdown could be caused once they came into contact with the Tayside twang.
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She said: “We have Gaelic, Orcadian, Norwegian up in Shetland and we have Doric. Combined with all of the regional accents and the large population of eastern Europeans, our main concern is why is this control room being proposed to go to Dundee, which has one of the strongest regional dialects in Scotland?
“How on Earth do they propose that someone with such a strong regional dialect and accent from our area will be sufficiently understood?”
However, her claims were ridiculed by Dundee-based North East Scotland MSP Jenny Marra, who pointed to famous sons and daughters of the city who have succeeded across the world.
The Labour politician said: “If Mary Slessor can make herself understood in the Calabar in Nigeria and Brian Cox can converse with the stars of Hollywood, then I’m sure the staff in our Dundee control rooms will be well understood by callers from across Scotland.
“Tesco and HMRC continue to enjoy the benefits of Dundonians serving their customers across the UK over the phone. The control room will be very well served by Dundonian staff.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokeswoman and North East Scotland MSP Alison McInnes said the petition showed people feel let down by the SNP’s police and fire “centralisation” plans.
She said: “From Aberdeen and Montrose to Durness and Portree, decades of local policing is being replaced by a one-size-fits-all faceless organisation.”
MSPs continued the petition to take advice from Holyrood’s Justice Committee and Justice Sub-Committee on Policing.