Last week the Brechiner reported on the lucky escape for motorists and pedestrians after one of the council's new flagpoles snapped in high winds and plunged from the roof of City Hall and into Swan Street below.

Fortunately no-one was injured in the incident, and the public spirited Brechiner rushed outside to rescue the Saltire from the road before informing the council of the problem.

However, after finishing the call and venturing back outside to bring the pole in off the street, our reporters found it had vanished.
And this led to an appeal from Angus Council in last week's paper urging whoever made off with the pole to return it so that thorough investigations could be carried out.

Well, the Brechiner can now exclusively reveal who 'made off' with the pole... it was the police!

And what's more, it seems they informed the local authority almost instantly - and before the council made their appeal.

When the Brechiner spoke to the police last week, they revealed that the council had been informed and had told the local constabulary that the pole would be uplifted from the Brechin police office at some time in the near future.

Speaking on Monday a spokesperson for Angus Council confirmed that the police now had the pole and that it would be checked for defects.

"A member of the public has handed the missing part of the broken flagpole into the local police station, for which we are grateful," they said.

"We will be examining the pole in due course for structural defects, although checks on the other 16 similar flagpoles in Angus have not indicated any problems. A replacement pole will be put into position soon at Brechin City Hall and the Saltire reinstated," they said.

Meanwhile, the Brechiner has had a chance to examine the broken pole and a cursory glance suggests it suffered a near instant catastrophic failure.

As our snapshot shows the pole has cracked in half where the internal cord exits the pole near the winding mechanism. However, the crack is so neat and symmetrical - with no deformation of the rest of the pole - that it seems likely that the pole failed almost instantaneously, effectively unzipping like a fly.

This could add more fuel to local fears that the other poles in the county are not safe, despite safety checks being carried out.

And residents in other towns are certainly concerned that they could be victims of a repeat of last Friday's incident. One Kirriemuir resident emailed the Brechiner to stress that their new flagpole had been bending a great deal in the same storm which had brought down the Brechin pole.

"I mentioned to a friend when we had the high winds how concerned I was about the flag pole here in Kirriemuir," said Nicola Young.

"It was waving and touching the other flagpole. I'm seriously concerned about it - is there any body going to be checking to make sure its safe?

"The flagpole is of concern as it really does wave about, unlike the older one holding the Saltire which hardly moves at all.

"I hope with the councillors we have just now they dont wait for someone to get hurt or worse killed by another one breaking," she added.