Routine testing carried out recently as part of our food safety system, indicated the presence of a low level of Listeria in a small number of batches of our Crannog cheese. We immediately reported this to the Environmental health Department at Dumfries and Galloway Council.

We followed our documented procedures to deal with this issue and accordingly initiated a product recall on the affected cheese. As a precautionary measure, we have now extended that recall to all batches of Loch Arthur Creamery’s Crannog and Killywhan cheese. We have halted production of these cheeses for the time being.

We are continuing to produce our Farmhouse Cheese, cream cheese and yoghurt as these products are not affected.

The Loch Arthur Farmshop and Cafe are open for business as usual and our cheese counter continues to offer a choice selection of the finest British and Continental artisan cheeses.

Customers who have placed Christmas hamper orders containing these items will receive alternative cheeses from other fine artisan cheese makers.

The team at Loch Arthur Creamery wish to thank our all our friends and customers for their support.

Customers who have any questions should contact us on shop@locharthur.org.uk

Police Scotland is seeking witnesses to what appears to be a road rage type of incident which happened on the A75 road near to the Ramhill, Castle Douglas. At around 2315 hours on Wednesday 14 December 2016 a 48 year old van driver from Birmingham what driving east on the A75 when he was overtaken by an articulated lorry which pulled up sharply in front of him. When the victim stopped behind this lorry, in his white Mercedes Sprinter van, the driver of the lorry alighted from his vehicle, approached the victim and began to assault him. Nothing appears to have been said by the attacker and the victim as a result was left with a sore face and in a shocked condition. The driver of the lorry then left the scene. The matter was reported to the police by the victim shortly afterwards.

Constable Callum Jardine at Castle Douglas said “the only description that the victim was able to give regarding his attacker is that he was between 40/50 years old, stocky build with a beer belly. He was about 5’8″ tall and had short grey hair and a goatee beard and moustache. He was wearing a red and white vertical striped t-shirt, jeans and safety boots. The victim received some cuts to his face as a result however did not require medical attention.. We want to hear form anyone who may have been on the A75 near the Ramhill around this time to get in touch if they saw anything which might help us in this investigation. The victim was unable to indicate why this assault might have happened. It may be that a second articulated lorry, not further described, stopped at the scene of this attack at the time and we would like to speak to the driver of that lorry.”

Police Scotland is again reminding residents in Dumfries and Galloway to be mindful of scams at this time of year. There are numerous scams which have been reported to police, with the perpetrator using various stories and scenarios to obtain money from their potential victims. This can be done over the telephone, by letter, E mail, buying and selling sites or the wider internet.

In general, no matter what style of communication the perpetrator uses to contact their victim, or what scenario or story they use, their aim is to obtain some sort of financial gain from you. Normally, this is achieved by offering the victim a product for sale, inheritance, a lottery win or other financial benefit. However, prior to receiving this product the victim has to pay a deposit to the perpetrator for an administration fee, or provide their banking details either to provide payment or to allow the money to be paid into their account. Once the perpetrator has received payment they will quite often contact the victim again and advise that a further payment is required. Alternatively, if they have successfully obtained your banking details they can withdraw money from your account as and when they want.

Recently it has become apparent that rather than requesting payment or bank details the perpetrator requests that the victim purchases an i-tunes voucher and then contacts the perpetrator with the voucher code. The perpetrator then applies the voucher to another account, basically taking the cash value, and the victim has no come back.

Constable Clark Logie, Crime reduction Officer at Stranraer said “in the latest example the initial contact was through the perpetrator getting in touch by phone and offering a loan, after the victim had been exploring internet based money lending sites. There are lots of different means used however. No matter what story or scenario is used by the perpetrator they are looking to obtain money from you, whether it’s getting you to transfer money to them, or to transfer vouchers or credit, or provide your bank details. In general terms do not give out any financial details over the telephone or on the internet, this includes i-tunes voucher numbers or banking details, unless you are 100% certain who you are talking to, or you are 100% the web site you are on is the correct web site.”