The Aberdeen Evening Express did not spare her blushes when Transport Minister Sarah Boyack dropped a major clanger concerning Scotland’s roads.

Six months after an Evening Express reader wrote to Ms Boyack asking for details of the proposed £80 million Aberdeen bypass, her office sent a written reply saying it was nothing to do with them. They said the Highland Council – based 100 miles away in Inverness – was responsible.

Local politicians hit out at Ms Boyack for not knowing the basic geography of Scotland.

The Express ran a picture of the minister – wearing a computer-generated dunce’s hat – on its front page. Reporter Colin MacKenzie rang the Highland Council and ran the conversation he had with them verbatim.

The newspaper also reproduced the original letter from Ms Boyack’s office, and its own reply, which began: “Thank you for your letter to one of our readers regarding Highland Council’s responsibility for the Aberdeen Bypass.

“We apologise for replying so soon – we gather you are accustomed to a six-month wait between correspondence – but we feel we must raise a few concerns as a matter of urgency.

“We have, as you advised our reader, contacted Highland Council about the peripheral route but, unfortunately, the authority has never heard of it.

“They suggested this could be because the city of Aberdeen is some 55 miles away from the Highland Council border and 100 miles from its Inverness headquarters.”

The scathing reply continued: “We have enclosed a small map in case you are still struggling.

“Sadly, we have not enjoyed the same success as you in contacting the Director of Roads and Transport in Aberdeen City Council. Perhaps this is because the post has not existed for some two-and-a-half years.”

A spokeswoman for Ms Boyack’s office apologised for the gaffe and said: “There had been an administrative error in the letter, which we apologise for.”

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