£10,000 reward offered to find Glasgow arsonists

Scottish Power has offered a £10,000 reward in the hope of finding who was responsible for starting a fire in Glasgow which closed the M8 for several hours last week and left over 26,000 homes without electricity.

The fire was started at an underpass at the A8, near the M8, at Old Govan Road in Renfrew and caused substantial damage to high voltage power cables. It will take more than 2 weeks to repair damage caused.

Guy Jefferson from Scottish Power said: “The criminals who started this fire on Monday evening are responsible for major disruptions that have inconvenienced thousands of people across the south side of Glasgow. Sections of our high voltage power line have been badly damaged and carrying out the repairs is a major job. A vital component of the electricity network in the south of Glasgow is now temporarily out of service, and the network is weaker as a result. We need all our equipment to be working in order to guarantee secure supplies of power.”

He added: “Although at this stage we can’t be sure that our cable was targeted in the fire, the issues associated with metal theft continue to increase across the country, and it is costing the UK economy up to £1bn every year. This fire has already caused a huge amount of inconvenience for thousands of people due to the initial power interruption and subsequent road closures. We want to do all that we can to help Strathclyde Police catch those who are responsible.”

Investigations continue into the exact cause of the fire.