Scottish Power's £10K reward over Glasgow fire blackout Published duration 15 November 2011

A £10,000 reward is being offered after a deliberate fire in Glasgow closed the M8 for several hours last week and left thousands of homes without electricity.

Scottish Power said it hoped the cash would help the police probe into the blaze at an underpass at the A8, near the M8, at Old Govan Road in Renfrew.

The fire caused "substantial damage" to high voltage power cables, leaving the city's south side network much weaker.

It is thought that essential repairs will take more than two weeks.

'Major disruptions'

Scottish Power said engineers managed to restore supplies to affected homes and businesses in Glasgow's south side within 40 minutes of the fire taking hold.

It said the network was now being closely monitored to ensure normal service but stressed that further disruption could be possible "if further faults were to materialise".

The company's operation director, Guy Jefferson, 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."

Mr Jefferson said the damage caused by the fire meant that "our options for diverting any homes or businesses to other sources of power supplies are now very limited".

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."