IT HAS been confirmed that a new contractor will be taking over the 2017's Royal Highland Show security operation.

SHOWSEC has been named as the new organisation – a company that claims to be an "award winning event and venue security specialist dedicated to achieving excellence in crowd management".

In business for more than 30 years, SHOWSEC has serviced thousands of events at over 450 venues, managing the safety of over 25 million people at sports, concerts, festivals and public events each year.

Following last year's Highland Show, claims were made on social media that a number of items of property were stolen from the Young Farmers campsite, and it was alleged that it was the security team, Streamline Security, that had taken them.

Some of these allegations included:

One young farmer had her phone charging in the cabin next to the security booth. When she returned, her phone and charger had gone. She was told nothing had been handed in and that the lost property box was empty. A guard then rang her phone and she could hear it ringing. She then saw her phone flash under piles of paper on a desk. Only then, reportedly, was she told that it had been handed in.

Laura Cochrane, from central Scotland, dropped her purse on Saturday night at the paint party dance. She checked at the security booth. Five minutes later, a friend got the purse from a guard. It had no cash in it, and when she asked who handed it in, was told it was “confidential information”.

A Lanarkshire young farmer’s wallet went missing. It was handed back by a security guard, minus the cash.

It was reported on Facebook that while a young farmer was lying in a room within a caravan, a security guard let himself into the caravan and, when challenged, left immediately. This was reported to the head security guard.

At the time, Streamline’s managing director, William Hunter, said: “I can confirm that a mobile phone was found in the possession of one of Streamline’s bar staff. Following an investigation, the staff member was fired and the phone is being returned to the owner. We have passed details of the incident to the police. This is the only incident reported to either ourselves or Police Scotland."

Royal Highland Show manager, David Jackson, also commented in the 2016 show aftermath: “These are concerning allegations and we will work with Police Scotland and Streamline Leisure to investigate and take appropriate action.”

This week, The Scottish Farmer asked the Royal Highland Show's public relations spokesman if last year's row was the reason for the change of security provider, but had received no reply at time of going to press.