Website reviews

This month, the web review might more accurately be called “out of the office tools”, since all the websites are related to places in Scotland and how one might get there. No marks will be awarded to the sites this month, since all are easy to use, well designed and supremely useful. Just log on and enjoy.

Scottish Courts Gazetteer

www.scotcourts.gov.uk/html/gazetteer.asp
The Gazetteer works like this. Simply type in the name of a town or village in Scotland, and the gazetteer will confirm which sheriff court has territorial jurisdiction for that place. This is very useful for drafting writs and so on.

The website gives details of the sheriff court, including the address and DX details; also a map of the court and information about car parking, refreshments, taxi ranks, bus stops and train stations. You can view a photo of the sheriff court so that you will recognise it once you get there. It may happen from time to time in the working life of any solicitor that they are called upon to visit a sheriff court with which they are unfamiliar and so this tool will be of much use.

Scottish Police Gazetteer

www.scottish.police.uk
Operating on a similar principle, the Police Gazetteer allows you to type in the place name of any city, town or village in the United Kingdom. The Gazetteer will then reveal which police force is responsible for maintaining law and order in that area. It also links to that force’s own website.

Greenflag Motoring Assistance

www.greenflag.co.uk
There are a number of websites which include a route finder or journey planner facility. This is my favourite. The journey planner works as you might expect. Just type in where you are and where you want to get to and the planner will calculate the fastest route between the two by road. It works out the total distance between A and B (useful for calculating mileage as well) and an estimate of how long it will take to get there (traffic permitting).

There is a related facility which allows you to get an area map for any destination and zoom in and out depending on the scale and detail you want. This feature will also identify nearby landmarks specified by you, such as railway stations, airports, petrol stations etc etc.

ScotRail Journey Planning

www.scotrail.co.uk/onlinechoice.htm
This is the equivalent website for those who prefer to travel by train. Again the destination and setting off point are entered. This time, these are joined by the time you wish to leave or arrive. The website then delivers the train(s) you should be catching to get there, with the option to explore earlier or later options too.

Traveline Scotland

www.travelinescotland.com
Of course, the rail network is far from ubiquitous. There are not railway stations in every part of Scotland. However, that is not to say that you can’t get there by public transport, as this very handy site proves. Its journey planner allows you to start and finish your journey almost anywhere in Scotland and gives you a (usually) feasible route by a combination of bus, train and/or ferry.

Interestingly there is also a text service whereby you can send the number of the bus stop you are at to Traveline and they will respond by texting details of the buses you might expect to arrive there soon, and where they might be going. It sounds like the sort of thing that might not work all the time (although I’ve never tested it), but it might be worth saving the number to your mobile anyway – just in case.

Traintaxi

www.traintaxi.co.uk
What a brilliant idea. For every railway station, tram station, metro and underground station in Britain, details of whether there is a taxi rank by the station and the telephone numbers of local taxi or private hire firms. So, prior to setting off (or even while still on the train) you can phone ahead and book a cab to ferry you the last few miles of your journey. I have used this and it works well.

The site allows you to find the information online or to download and print off a complete list (about 44 pages) for future reference.