Sam Shedden Engagement Editor

Good morning,

Welcome to Monday's newsletter from The Scotsman.

Our top stories today

• Police descend on luxury hotel grounds amid reports of a chemical leak
• Giant offshore wind farm in Forth would be UK's largest
• Scottish trade bodies warn visa scheme won’t solve food and fuel supply chain crisis
• Covid vaccine appointments sent to 12 to 15-year-olds 
•  Heavy rain and flooding warnings for parts of Scotland

Last night emergency services descended on the grounds of a luxury Scottish hotel amid unconfirmed reports of a major chemical leak.

Police evacuated guests and staff at the Forth Valley hotel and cordoned off the entrance to its grounds. Chemicals are understood to have spread through the hotel's air conditioning unit before the alarm was raised at around 7:30pm.

Meanwhile, The trade body for hauliers has warned that the UK government’s foreign visa plans will “not make a massive dent” in the HGV driver shortage that is crippling food and fuel supply chains.

Martin Reed, director for Scotland and Northern Ireland at the Road Haulage Association (RHA), said the visa scheme was just “one of a number of levers that need to be pulled” in order to tackle the crisis. The RHA estimates that the shortage of HGV drivers across the UK stands at more than 100,000. Even before the pandemic, it put the number at around 60,000.

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