The owner of Uig Lodge Dickon Green on the isle of Lewis was rushed into hospital after accidentally hovering up deadly cyanide which had been found stored in an old outbuilding which was being renovated. It is understood that the property owner was using a vacuum cleaner to try and shrink wrap the tin in a plastic bag ready for safe disposal. The tin opened and the powder was blown into the air by the cleaner. The deadly poison then shot through the cleaner and came out the other end in a cloud of dust which showered businessman Dickon Green with deadly cyanide powder.
Officers from the Northern Constabulary were called to the private lodge in Timsgarry at about 19:20 on Wednesday.
Subsequently Dickon Green and one employee working for Mr Green received emergency treatment for suspected cyanide poisoning after ingesting some of the deadly poison.
Police said the noxious substance had being used for pest control at a private lodge in Timsgarry, Isle of Lewis.
It is being reported Mr. Green had found the tin of cyanide in an old outbuilding which he suspected had been left there by the previous owner who had used the poison for exterminating rats. It is accepted Mr. Green had attempted but had failed to get the cooperation of the local agency who he had asked to take responsibility for the cyanides safe disposal. Mr Green did eventually manage to find a company on the mainland who agreed to destroy the poison, but he was required to transport the cyanide from Lewis to the mainland himself we are advised.
Two female paramedics who treated the pair have also been decontaminated in hospital after the incident at Uig Lodge on the west side of Lewis. All four people involved in the incident have now been released from hospital. There is not believed to be any further risk to the public”
The alarm was raised when one of the men – understood to be the lodge’s owner Mr. Green – accidentally dislodged the lid on the tin, which was thought to have contained the poison in a powder form. Mr Green tried to get help at the local GP’s surgery but it was shut, and a friend concerned for his health started to drive the man to hospital in Stornoway. However, their car was intercepted by police and a roadside decontamination unit was set up.
However, the main decontamination involved the men being ordered to take their clothes off and being hosed down by firefighters. Part of the main route from Stornoway to the west side of the island, between Cameron Terrace and Achmore, was closed for a time.
The men were then taken to the Western Isles Hospital in Stornoway where they and the paramedics were decontaminated.
A spokesman for Northern Constabulary said: “The incident has involved a number of agencies working together and there is not believed to be any further risk to the public.”
Firefighters are carrying out an assessment of the property where the incident occurred to ensure the area is completely safe.
Footnote:
Raptor Politics has received first hand information which we now accept clears Mr. Green of any and all wrong doing. It does appear from what we are now being told, see comment from a friend and neighbour, that Mr. Green made all reasonable efforts to contact all the right agencies asking them to help with the safe removal and disposal of the cyanide he had found at his property, but was let down by those agencies he contacted.
Dear sir/madam,
I saw your post via a friend on a social network site having never heard of the site before. I wanted to correct some of your assumptions and observations that have been taken from inaccurate press reporting. I understand that there was no intent to distort the facts on your behalf because the inaccurate reports lead you to believe a different story.
I have no involvement with Uig Lodge but know it and Dickon Green very well and am an immediate neighbour. Firstly, it is not an estate and owns only a small 200 acres or so of in by pasture land for sheep. It carries out no gamekeeping and has no shooting / birds of prey on it’s small coastal piece of land. It has riparian ownership to the river Fhorsa but does not own the land surrounding said river. It is not an estate in the way you mean. Certainly should not have the tag “private shooting estate” linked to the story.
Dickon has (I know because he has been telling me about the process of removing the very old cyanide container) been trying hard for some months to get rid of the cyanide from when he first found it in an old outbuilding being renovated. He contacted the council who refused to deal with it and told him to contact SEPA who also refused to deal with it. In the end he found a mainland private firm who’d dispose of it but nobody would take it to them so he was preparing the container to take away himself to the disposal people tomorrow. No workers were with him when he was trying to make the container safe. The friend who took him to hospital (because we have no medical cover in Uig from 5pm to 9am most days and none at all at weekends) was merely that. Initial reports mistakenly added detail where there was none.
So, you see, he did everything right and has been let down by agencies paid for by us, the taxpayers, to help in situations where potentially dangerous chemicals are discovered. With these facts in mind would you still use the headline you have and gleefully mention prosecution?
What else can anyone do? Why this is on a raptor web site beggars belief… again making a story out of nothing when prejudicial opinions have been made about anything to do with an “estate”. Remember, this isn’t even an estate but a private house, farm and small business. I would appreciate this being put on your blog because I just want to avert any damage to Dickon Green’s reputation and good standing. Thank you for your help.
With best regards
Richard Davies
Uig
Isle of Lewis
Editor’s Comment: Richard, Raptor Politics is please that you made contact, we thank you for putting on record the correct facts. We are please to admit the detail we had originally received were misleading and have now been amended. If you have any more factual information please contact our web site again. Editor
“On 200 acre it has no birds of prey” NONE?
Dear editor,
Regarding the 200 acres and bird of prey comment by “Che”. Indeed there are none as it is lowland and machair (sand dune type ground) with a small patch of rough grass and old lazy bed moor. There are no cliffs and no trees for safe nesting. There are eagles that will fly overhead from time to time as part of their 20 sq mile plus feeding ground but I’ve not seen one land myself near Uig lodge. No resident birds though. You see there are no safe nesting places out of the reach of ground rodents and cats around here. You get peregrines and eagles and buzzards where there are safe nesting sites on cliffs but none around the shoreline here where Dickon’s farm is. I guess buzzards and other birds may land as there are rabbits.
Further to this and Dickon Green’s lucky escape, he has written a brief press release and thanks all the well-wishers for their support and kind words. He was lucky and the sooner there is a safe way to get rid of these poisons the better. Of course being on an island hundreds of miles and a ferry journey away from the nearest licensed disposer of poisons made things difficult for Dickon.
NARROW ESCAPE AT UIG LODGE
While clearing the barns out around Keepers Cottage, at Uig Lodge, earlier this year Dickon Green, who runs the smokery and fishing business, came across two old tins of rabbit poison which had been lying there for many years.
The poison was Cymag and Dickon contacted various authorities to seek their advice as to how to dispose of it. He found a company based on the mainland who could handle the chemical but he needed to find a safe way of transporting it. The tins were not in good condition and could be dangerous if exposed to water.
While handling the poison, some cyanide was released. Dickon sped off to Stornoway to seek specialist medical care. All the emergency services were fantastic: “I can’t praise them enough for all that they did” said Dickon.
No one else was injured and all emissions are being dealt with. Said Dickon ruefully: “And I hope that my experience serves to warn anybody else about the dangers of this chemical and to contact the local authorities to seek their expert advice if they come across it”.
Editor’s Comment. Richard once again many thanks for your welcome comments. From everyone at the Raptor Politics editorial team we send Mr. Green our warm and friendly best wishes, we are so pleased he has managed to live and tell the tail, he was so so lucky. We particularly welcome his warning to others about the dangers of poisons because they certainly have no place in our society what so ever. Richard keep sending your comments, we would love to publish them, particularly if they have an association with birds of prey.
this person is such an upstanding member of the community why did he have Cyanide in his home??????
Editor’s Comment, Chrissie we understand the poison was first located when Mr Green was clearing out an outbuilding used by the previous owner of the property. He immediately notified the correct authorities asking them to come and remove the poison, but they were obstructive or slow in their response.
You should correct the title to this story which makes several incorrect statements. He did not ingest cyanide, he was not hoovering (or even hovering) his home. You should also place more prominently your other corrections as the main part of the story still implies Mr Green is a pest-killer who has got his just deserts. He is in fact a businessman living on an island who tried to get rid of very old rabbit poison, not bought or used by him, and was unable to do so without considerable risk to himself. Raptor politics is one thing, victimising someone who had a near miss while trying to do the right thing is quite another.
If what you say is correct Annie, then why didn’t he get someone who had the required knowledge and experience to deal with it instead of risking his own life?
This story has not just been reported on Raptor Politics it has been published on quite a few other sites previously.
There is no smoke without fire.