Glasgow residents suffer blackout

More than 50,000 homes and businesses across Glasgow were left without power last week after a “deliberate” fire near Braehead shopping centre.

The fire was believed to have started around 7.30pm with two high-voltage power cables being set alight by vandals in an underpass under the M8 in Renfrew.

Both the motorway and A8 had to be closed while the blaze was handled by fire crews.

Gordon McCrae of Paisley CID is leading the police investigation into what he described as a thoughtless act.

“It was an incredibly dangerous and very selfish thing to do. Thousands of homes were affected and there was disruption to the traffic on the M8 which was closed for over four hours to allow emergency services to deal with the fire,” he said.

Thirty fire fighters tended to the fire while residents in Govan, Mount Florida, Battlefield, parts of Shawlands, Cathcart and Rutherglen were all shrouded in darkness.

Guy Jefferson, Operations Director at ScottishPower Energy Networks, said: “This looks like a mindless act of vandalism that has caused a huge amount of disruption for homes and businesses in the South of Glasgow and also for motorists.

“Our engineers worked flat out to get power restored to homes as quickly as they possibly could.”

Anyone with information regarding the incident can contact Paisley Police Office on 0141 532 5900.