A news reporter has been "deliberately coughed on" in Edinburgh while trying to do his job.
Freelance journalist John Fernandez, who also works as a rider for Deliveroo, was stopped by a group blocking Princes Street.
As he asked to be left alone and given space they started to cough on him.
The stunned reporter, who has carried out work for the BBC in the past, took to social media following the concerning incident on Friday night and said he was left speechless.
He wrote: “Genuinely speechless for once.
“Stopped mid-delivery, here on Princes Street, by a group blocking the road and deliberately coughed on after I asked to be left alone, as we’re in a pandemic.
“No more deliveries tonight.
“Thanks to Police Scotland for taking this seriously.”
A Police Scotland officer told our sister title Edinburgh Live that similar reports could potentially be considered reckless conduct, for which there's already legislation.
John was delivering a pizza to a customer at the time of the incident. Following the attack he decided to stop delivering food for the evening.
According to the crime.scot website culpable and reckless conduct is deliberate conduct that exposes an individual, or the public generally, to significant risk to life or health .
There’s no requirement for actual injury to have been caused, the offence is the exposure to risk and can lead to fines and even jail time in most extreme cases.
