Lothians escape worst of unseasonal weather

EDINBURGH and the Lothians escaped the worst of the unseasonal weather as thousands of people across Scotland were still without power today after weekend 
blizzards.

Some rural communities were enduring a fourth day without electricity as engineers continued to battle against wintry conditions to reconnect homes. Arran, Kintyre and Dumfries and Galloway were among the worst hit areas.

Heavy snow and high winds brought down power lines and damaged steel pylons in Arran on Friday. At the peak of the problems around 18,000 homes were cut off from the grid.

Freezing conditions and 15ft snow drifts closed roads and held back efforts to reach isolated areas over the weekend with some communities cut off entirely.

The A83, the main road to Campbelltown, was due to reopen today, easing access for engineers, some of whom spent Saturday night in their vans because they were stranded by the weather.