DAILY RECORD publisher Trinity Mirror looks likely to follow up the launch of the free Record PM with free weekly newspapersforEdinburgh,Dundeeand Aberdeen along the same lines as its existing free title, The Glaswegian.

To the horror of newsagents, this could well be followed later in the year by the extension into Aberdeen and Dundee of the Scottish edition of free morning paper Metro.

Trinity Mirror is understood to want to create platforms for selling advertising across a number of titles in the way that it already does in Glasgow with the Record, Record PM, Sunday Mail, The Glaswegian and Metro.

While it registered the company names The Aberdonian, The Dundonian and The Edinburgh and Lothians Post as long ago as 1990, it has recently created dummies with a view to launches in the coming months.

Mark Hollinshead, managing director of the Daily Record and Sunday Mail, said: "It is well known that the Daily Record has already registered companies for these titles. Launching them would be a natural extension for the roll-out of the Record PM strategy."

Together with speculation about free afternoon papers London Lite and thelondonpaper launching in Scotland, the prospect of an explosion in free newspaper titles is being watched with increasing concern in the news trade.

Hollinshead and other Record executives had a meeting with the National Federation of Retail Newsagents (NFRN) last Thursday to hear their concerns aboutRecordPM,whichistobe turned into a free title and given new editions for Aberdeen and Dundee next Monday.

The NFRN fears that newsagents will be affected both by selling fewer copies of paid-for titles and attracting fewer customers into their shops, which will hit other product lines. It points to anecdotal damage in London since News International and Associated Newspapers respectively launched thelondonpaper and London Lite last summer.

David Woodrow, a Scottish NFRN executive member who attended the meeting, told the Sunday Herald: "What they are doing is removing yet more potential for revenues from ourselves.

"We have already lost paid-for sales from Metro, and price wars have meant we have had no increase in revenues for six years. This has left me £64 worse off everyweekthananequivalent newsagent in England."

Des Barr, a newsagent from Paisley, said: "All Hollinshead has done is invite News International and for that matter Newsquest, Johnston Press and DC Thomson to respond. Are they going to sit and take the hit? I doubt it."

Hollinshead, who has agreed to a wider meeting that will also include the wholesalers and possibly other publishers, responded: "We will always work very closely with the news trade because we have the same objectives, which is to increase newspaper sales. We wouldn't do anything to damage that objective."

Meanwhile, discussions have taken place between Metro publisher Associated Newspapers and Trinity Mirror, which oversees the Scottish franchise, about extending the Scottish edition of the free morning tabloid into the north.

Steve Auckland, managing director of Metro, denied there were firm plans but said: "Metro is likely to grow its number of copies throughout the UK in the next 12 months, and areas such as Aberdeen and Dundee could well be included."

He was more cautious on the prospect of London Lite being rolled into the market, however, despite equivalent internet domain names having been registered for Edinburgh, Glasgow and nearly 20 other cities.

Auckland said that while discussions had taken place with franchise partners, he was not sure if the title could work outside a city the size of London.

He added: "We are not getting many advertising agencies saying we should be around the country, but sentiments can change quickly."

Associated's move to register domain names, together with the fact that News Internationalhasregisteredallthe equivalentsforthelondonpaper,are nevertheless thought to be among the reasons behind the launch of the free Record PM.