700-home power cut caused by bull with ‘itchy bum’ that broke transformer box

Homes across South Lanarkshire were hit by a power cut on Thursday evening.

A broken transformer box which cut power to around 700 homes on Thursday was damaged by a bull with an “itchy bum”, according to a local farmer.

Hazel Laughton, from Chapelton in South Lanarkshire said the electricity outage was caused by “Ron”, a four-year old Limousin bull on her farm.

The 35-year-old, who runs the beef and sheep farm with her husband, Greg, said she first noticed that the electricity went off at around 11pm.

Hazel Laughton, from Chapelton in South Lanarkshire said the electricity outage was caused by “Ron”, a four-year old Limousin bull on her farm. (Credit: Hazel Laughton)

Engineers managed to restore power at around 4am the following morning, and the pair realised what had caused the problem when they went to feed the cows.

“Greg noticed the transformer had been knocked off,” she explained.

“We have seen the bull scratch himself on the pole before, so we knew what had happened.”

Thankfully Ron wasn’t hurt in the accident, and locals have taken the news with good humour.

“They all found it funny,” said Hazel, who posted about the incident in a local Facebook group.

“Our bull Ron would like to apologise to everyone in Chapelton and Strathaven for causing last night’s power cut,” Hazel told the group, “he had an itchy bum so scratched it on the electricity pole and knocked the transformer box off!

“He’s just happy to be alive this morning after somehow escaping 11,000 volts and a large bump on the head!”

Hazel and Greg have promised to rename their bull “Sparky” to commemorate his near miss.

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