HIGH VOLTAGE: ScottishPower says the thieves, who wear hi-visibility jackets, are risking their own lives.
An organised crime gang has stolen six miles of power cables in a month-long series of daily raids.
The group - believed to have been dressed in high-visibility jackets and moving in white
vans to look just like contractors - have been cutting down 11,000-volt lines in what one industry
insider called an unimaginably dangerous but industrial-scale operation.
The men, who have the same specialist footwear spiked with steel tacks as professionals, appear to be based in Glasgow but are already having a devastating effect on the grid, despite targetting rural spur lines for their increasingly valuable metal.
They have cut down 20 lengths of cable in the last two weeks alone, with incidents in Milngavie, Dalry, Shotts, Falkirk, Kilbarchan, Larkhall and Slamannan.
It is understood the cable stolen just in the last two weeks would fill numerous shipping containers and could be worth as much as £250,000 on the black market.
One power line was brought down across a road and was
struck by a lorry, causing a temporary power cut for 1,500 homes.
Others have only affected a handful of homes - but experts stress that such dramatic cuts could cause power surges that spark fires.
Guy Jefferson, network operations director at ScottishPower Energy Networks, said:
"In recent years we have witnessed house fires and damaged electrical appliances in homes. One man died recently attempting to steal copper from an electricity pole in Lanarkshire, and others have suffered horrific burns, loss of limbs and scarring.
"Unfortunately it seems like the thieves don't care about the risk to their own lives, and they certainly show no regard for the safety of neighbouring properties."
The huge volume of live cable thefts this summer is unprecedented. There is a small market for unused power cable - ScottishPower workers, for example, have traditionally been allowed to keep small off-cuts. But six miles of cable is a huge amount to appear on the market, with industry insiders wondering whether Scotland is being targeted because new restrictions on the English scrap trade have made it harder to fence stolen metal.
Earlier this month ScottishPower Energy Networks lobbied Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill to discuss the tougher sanctions against metal theft proposed as part of new legislation.
Police have long targeted the scrap industry - which is partly controlled by a series of families, both as a front for organised crime, and a criminal enterprise in itself.
Mr MacAskill has stressed that "metal theft is simply not a victimless crime".
Small-scale attacks on substations - to steal copper - have already had life-threatening consequences, with two fires caused by a raid in Greenock last November
Industry insiders stress it
can take hours to cut down
cables and those working on sites may look like ScottishPower's own staff.
Farmers occasionally suffer electricity cuts - from wind pulling down cables, and may be slow to respond. A theft in Glasgow cut off 50,000 homes for half an hour - causing havoc but also making it hard to steal large volumes.
Attacks on rural spur lines are easier - although dangling wires have started fires and pose a real risk to livestock.
ScottishPower has offered a reward of £20,000, its biggest ever, for information that leads to the conviction of the latest gang.
Anyone with information about the recent spate of thefts is asked to contact police or ScottishPower's 24-hour hotline on 0800 092 9290.
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