Rail passengers in Scotland have been banned from carrying firearms after a shotgun was found unattended on a train.
ScotRail, the national operator, said that the policy was necessary to guarantee the safety of staff and customers. The ban, which came into force this week, was implemented after a firearm was found by a member of staff at Dumfries this year.
It comes three weeks before the Glorious Twelfth, the start of the grouse shooting season, and has been criticised by campaigners, who argued that it could harm rural tourism.
The British Association for Shooting and Conservation, the UK’s largest shooting organisation, urged ScotRail to reverse the measure because it could deter visitors to the Highlands for the red grouse-shooting season.
Peter Glenser, chairman of the association, said: “ScotRail claims it is Scotland’s railway but it is striking at the heart of rural businesses and communities which rely on the estimated £155 million injected each year into the country’s economy by country sports tourism.”
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He described it as a punitive response and pointed to the National Rail Conditions of Travel, which allow authorised passengers to transport firearms on trains. The conditions, which operate throughout the UK, allow for the carriage of “unloaded firearms, properly licenced, with prior permission of the train company and carried in accordance with the law and any other specific instructions”.
Mr Glenser said: “BASC understands that this outright ban is a result of a single incident of a shotgun being left on a train. Considering the millions of miles travelled safely with shotguns and firearms each year, this decision looks like a disproportionate, knee-jerk response.
The Scottish Country Sports Tourism Group echoed his concerns.
Andrew Grainger, project manager for the organisation, said: “This announcement from ScotRail is of concern as it may have immediate consequences for tourists with bookings to travel to Scotland for the grouse shooting season, which is only weeks away.”
The BASC has now written to ministers to outline the association’s concerns and urged ScotRail to reconsider the ban “before the start of the shooting season to avoid travel disruption and to protect Scotland’s rural economy.”
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ScotRail is understood to be the only rail operator in the UK to have introduced such a ban and despite the complaints showed no signs of shifting its position.
David Lister, ScotRail Alliance safety and sustainability director, said: “Following an incident earlier in the year, when a customer left a firearm unattended on a train, we reviewed our policy and decided that the best way to keep our customers and staff safe is to ban all firearms on ScotRail services.
“We are confident that this is a decision that will have the support of the vast majority of staff and customers.”
• A landowner has defended blocking public access along the famous “Whisky Trail” in Speyside after complaints were made by ramblers. Three electronic gates have been erected on the grounds of Kinrara estate, near Aviemore, preventing walkers, cyclists and horse riders from accessing a section of the Speyside Way trail. Cairngorms National Park Authority is investigating.
The McLaren family said there were two other entrances to the trail and that visitors had been disturbing ospreys.