Bull’s bid to scratch ‘itchy bum’ causes power cut

‘He’s just happy to be alive,’ owner says

A bull has caused hundreds of homes in Scotland to lose power after he scratched his “itchy” rump on an electricity pole.

Ron’s owner posted on a local Facebook page for a South Lanarkshire village to apologise for power cuts on the animal’s behalf.

“He had a itchy bum so scratched it on the electricity pole and knocked the transformer box off,” Hazel Laughton wrote.

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

She claimed he had caused more than 700 homes to lose power in Chapelton and Strathaven in South Lanarkshire on Thursday night.

“Think we will rename him ‘Sparky’,” she added.

She told BBC Scotland her and her husband – who both own a farm in Scotland – woke up on Friday morning to see a large generator at the bottom of their road linked up to poles.

“We thought that was a bit strange,” she said.

“We went up to feed our cows and it was my husband that noticed the transformer box had been knocked off the pole.”

She told BBC Scotland: “We put two and two together and realised our bull had been scratching against the telegraph pole and he had knocked the box off the pole. All the wires were down in the field as well.”

In her Facebook post – which has been liked thousands of times – she wrote: “Our bull Ron would like to apologise to everyone in Chapelton and Strathaven for causing last nights power cut to over 700 homes.”

A spokesperson for SP Energy Networks told The IndependentAround 800 homes in Chapelton and Strathaven were without power overnight on Thursday 7 May after a pole-mounted transformer and overhead lines were knocked to the ground by a bull rubbing against the pole.

“A team of engineers attended the site immediately and, once Ron the bull was safely moved to another field, worked through the night to connect power supplies to temporary generators and get the power back on as quickly as possible. A full repair was then completed on Friday 8 May, during daylight hours.”

The spokesperson added: “We apologise to all those affected and thank them for their patience while we worked to restore the power. Our thanks too to Mr & Mrs Laughton – and Ron of course – for their cooperation.”