A north MSP is set to take a backseat role in the election campaign – after breaking his leg playing football in his garden with his grandson.
Dave Thompson, the SNP MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, suffered the nasty accident in a friendly Easter Sunday kick-about at his home in Inverness.
The 65-year-old fell while kicking a ball about with his grandsons and initially thought he had sprained something.
However, several painful hours later he headed for accident and emergency at Raigmore Hospital to be hold that he had broken his lower leg.
Mr Thompson joked yesterday that his football career is probably now over, adding: “I’m looking forward to putting my feet up for a bit now.”
He said: “I was playing football in the garden with the grandkids and I just fell over.
“My leg did make this crunching sound but I thought that it was just a sprain and put some ice on it.
“It started to swell up a bit and I thought it might be something a bit more serious so I phoned NHS 24.
“When I described it to them they told me to go straight to accident and emergency.
“It’s in a temporary plaster now and I need to go back on Thursday to get something more permanent.
“Obviously I should have known better at my age.”
The accident happened during a family gathering on Sunday afternoon, with two of Mr Thompson’s daughters and the grandchildren visiting for Easter.
The MSP, whose ward covers a huge area, including a number of islands, has now had to cancel a number of planned engagements because of the injury.
The break means Mr Thompson will not be out “on the stump” gathering election support.
He has been on the campaign trail in support of the SNP candidate in the general election Ian Blackford.
He said: “I was actually out knocking doors on Saturday but I don’t think I’ll be in commission for that for a while.
“I’ve got an office at home so I’ll not be totally out the loop but I’m looking forward to spending a few days with my feet up now.”
His surgeries across the mainland have had to be scrapped, as well as planned trips to Skye, Mull and some of the smaller isles.