Speeding drivers using Tomnahurich Cemetery in Inverness as a rat-run have forced Highland Council to close one set of gates at Bruce Gardens

Dangerous drivers using a historic city graveyard as a sneaky shortcut have forced Highland Council to take action.

Council officials have had no choice but to lock one set of large gates to Tomnahurich Cemetery indefinitely after repeated reports of speeding within the grounds as motorists try to beat the traffic.

As well as the risk to mourners, grieving relatives and families visiting the 160-year-old burial grounds, the callous “rat- run” culprits have been causing alarm to some council workers tending the grounds.

By shutting off vehicle access from Bruce Gardens in Dalneigh, the council hopes to nip the problem in the bud and restore the leafy cemetery’s air of tranquillity.

While the council said there had been no formal complaints made to police, a spokesman confirmed: “Staff have closed the gates at Bruce Gardens entrance to vehicles, but pedestrian access is maintained.

“It has been getting used as a rat run with cars travelling through the cemetery at inappropriate speed, causing risk to cemetery users.

“The main gates on Glenurquhart Road are open as usual.

“No particular incidents have been reported to police, but our staff have raised their concerns on numerous occasions when working in the cemetery and seeing vehicles being driven at an inappropriate speed.

“This is why the senior managers have taken the action they have.”

The cemetery remains open from 8am to 7pm daily, and 4pm on a Sunday, from April 1 to October 31 and from 8am to 5pm from November to March.

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