Press watchdog the Press Complaints Commission is warning editors to co-operate as quickly as possible on accuracy matters - or risk undermining the strengths of self-regulation.

The comments came after The Scotsman failed to respond to three letters from the Commission itself - after already having failed to acknowledge three letters to the paper from a complainant.

The article in question was a feature on tourism in Scotland which focused on the perception that the country did not offer value for money.

The complainant said that a table of holiday prices had confused the exchange rates of Sterling to Euros and Sterling to Dollars. The complaint - on accuracy - was upheld.

The Scotsman offered to publish a correction in its Corrections and Clarifications column and to change its system for responding to readers who made complaints.

Yet the complainant argued that these offers were rendered inadequate by the delay of four months in responding substantively to the complaint.

The PCC adjudication said: "In taking four months to reply to a straightforward complaint, the newspaper had not fulfilled its responsibility - and the result was a breach of the Code.

"The Commission urged the newspaper to change its procedures for dealing with complaints as soon as possible so that a similar situation does not arise in future.

"The Editors' Code of Practice explicitly states that 'it is the responsibility of editors to co-operate with the PCC as swiftly as possible in the resolution of complaints'."

The Commission conceded that the newspaper's offer to publish a correction with regard to the inaccuracy and apologise directly to the complainant would generally have represented an appropriate form of remedial action.

But a spokesman said: "A key advantage that the Commission has over the law is the speed with which editors offer to resolve complaints. Failure to do so undermines one of the strengths of self-regulation and is likely to be criticised by the Commission."

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