9am Briefing: Lorry driver in hospital after vehicle overturns

A LORRY driver was taken to hospital after his vehicle overturned as he unloaded materials at a quarry this morning.

The 54-year-old man was trapped for around 40 minutes after the 18-tonne lorry lost balance and plunged on to its side at the Hillwood Quarry at Newbridge, West Lothian at around 4am.

The driver was stuck in his partially crushed cab and firefighters used cutting equipment to free him.

The Medic One trauma unit attended the incident and ambulance crews rushed him to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

The drivers suffered neck and back injuries, although he is not thought to be in a serious condition.

* THE UK’s largest nightclub owner has plunged into administration, placing up to 3,000 jobs at risk.

Luminar - which owns Edinburgh’s Lava & Ignite venue along with nightclubs across Scotland - had to call in administrators after lenders Lloyds, Barclays and RBS said they would not extend a period of leniency any longer.

The firm said youth unemployment was a major factor in the downturn.

Sales dropped by nearly 20 per cent due to the fact that clubbers aged between 18 and 24 have so little to spend on nights out.

Lava & Ignite, on West Tollcross, opened in 2005 after a £1 million redevelopment of the Cavendish nightclub.

* ARTIFICIAL blood created from stem cells could be tested on people in the UK within two years, according to researchers from Edinburgh University.

The scientists behind the research, which could provide industrial-scale quantities of blood, believe it will transform transfusions by preventing hospital shortages, and save thousands of lives on battlefields and at the scene of car crashes.

Heart transplant, bypass and cancer patients would also benefit from having a guaranteed supply of blood on hand for their surgery.

Edinburgh’s Professor Marc Turner hopes to make a supply of cells with the O-negative blood type. This “universal” blood could be given to up to 98 per cent of the population.

* SCOTLAND’S National Galleries have unveiled a series of new blockbuster shows for next year, including exhibitions featuring Picasso and East Lothian painter John Bellany.

The exhibitions - featuring some of the most recognisable names in art, including Van Gogh - aim to attract visitors to the 2012 London Olympics north of the border, with the largest-ever Picasso show in Scotland at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, as well as a show of more than 70 works in a major exhibition about landscape painting from Van Gogh to Kandinsky.

John Bellany: A Passion for Life will be staged at the Scottish National Gallery from November 17 next year to January 27 2013, and will be the most comprehensive exhibition of his work since a retrospective in 1986.

The exhibition will chart his career and life, including his days in Port Seton.