Firms count cost of power cuts

Eric Baxter • Published 9 Jun 2010 14:00

GREENOCK companies say they have lost thousands of pounds because of a power cut which may have been caused by Monday's thunderstorm.

Electricity went off in MacDougall Street and the nearby Cappielow industrial estate around 3pm on Monday and stayed off all day yesterday.

Scottish Power initially thought the problem was in a sub-station, and fuses were replaced. But the fuses blew again and the fault was traced to an underground cable.

A spokeswoman for Scottish Power said they were not allowed to dig up a stretch of East Hamilton Street until 8pm last night because it is such a busy road.

Engineers worked on the cable overnight and the westbound lane was still down to one lane this morning, causing delays for motorists.

One of the companies affected was McGhee's car repair centre. Proprietor Ian Ellis said he reckoned they had lost around £10,000 worth of business because of the power cut.

He said: "We have one emergency phone line instead of the normal five lines, but we have no computers, email or fax. We're having to keep customers waiting for their cars because we can't get them repaired."

Alex Parker, owner of A & J Transport on MacDougall Street, said Tuesday is one of his busiest days for deliveries, and he has had to disappoint many people waiting for goods. He said: "This has hit us really hard."

Robert Steel, who owns a car body repair shop in the street, said: "I had four jobs booked in for yesterday and couldn't do them."

And nearby Road Runner car repair owner, Craig Beaton, said: "This is a disgrace. It's too much of a coincidence that the power went off after the heavy rain."

The Scottish Power spokeswoman said: "Water could have damaged the cable. We would have liked to have dug up the road earlier to replace the cable, but that was not possible because it is a trunk road. We apologise for any inconvenience."

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This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 09 Jun 10

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