A Scottish daily hired a helicopter to provide an early-morning election results service to readers in a remote Highland region today.

The Press and Journal flew 5,000 copies of its election special from Aberdeen to Inverness at 6am in a unique collaboration with Bristow Helicopters.

It meant readers in Inverness, Elgin and the surrounding area were able to wake up to the most up-to-date results service available in any Scottish title on sale in the region.

And fittingly, the man who had the task of flying thousands of copies from Aberdeen was no stranger to delivering the award-winning newspaper.

Chief pilot Matt Rhodes – a P&J paperboy in the 1980s – said that while his mode of transport had changed dramatically, the early starts had not.

He said: “I grew up in Blackburn near Aberdeen and delivered the Press and Journal 20 years ago. The only difference between then and now was that I was on a bike instead of a helicopter – but it still required getting up very early in the morning though.

“The 35 minute flight went well. We landed at Dalcross and within nine minutes all 5,500 newspapers were unloaded – by hand.

“We were then straight back to Aberdeen in time for the aircraft to receive a routine safety check and ready to start its oil and gas duties at 8am.”

The P&J’s northern edition which serves Inverness is normally printed at 11.30pm and transported to the area by road.

The helicopter deal therefore enabled the paper to provide readers there with almost six hours’ worth of results they would otherwise not have had.

Editor Derek Tucker said: “This was one of the most eagerly awaited election counts in the near 40 years I have been in newspapers.

“The polls were indicating from the outset that it was going to be very close and that there would be a high turn out of voters.

“Clearly this was going to impact on declaration times – but we wanted to make sure that we provided the most comprehensive and up to date coverage of results right across the circulation area.

“With the magnificent help we received from Bristow, and a superb team effort right across the company, we were able to make sure that our readers in Inverness and the surrounding area woke up to a paper with more than 400 results – while the rest of the Scottish newspapers on sale there could not manage a single result between them.”

Comments

PearlHarbour (07/05/2010 18:07:13)
Huh. That’s nothing. Take a look at this incisive copy from my local Johnston Press newspaper, which has just made all its subs redundant. All that fuss with helicopters – how unnecessary.
http://www.scarborougheveningnews.co.uk/news/Election-turnout.6279425.jp