Skye Bridge toll row continues

EDINBURGH, Scotland, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- A protester who goes by the name Robbie the Pict has threatened Scotland's transport minister with criminal action.

The problem, The Scotsman reports, is that after 130 people were convicted of refusing to pay the toll for the Skye Bridge, the procurator fiscal -- Scots for prosecutor -- made an embarrassing admission. He said he had not seen the document that gives the Skye Bridge Company the authority to charge tolls.

Now, Robbie the Pict demands that Tavish Scott admit failings in the system by the end of January or "this office will report you to the police for aiding and abetting the concealment of fabrication of Crown evidence, a felonious act."

Skye, once reachable only by boat -- preferably a bonnie one like the one that carried Bonnie Prince Charlie in a traditional song -- became connected to the mainland by bridge in 1995. An anti-toll group called the span "the most expensive, privately run, unjust toll bridge in Europe," but the government responded to the protests by buying the bridge and doing away with the tolls in late 2004.