ScottishPower has joined forces with a number of local authorities in Scotland to help tackle the scourge of graffiti and tagging on ScottishPower property. A pilot scheme has been in operation with Fife Council, East Renfrewshire Council and East Dunbartonshire Council since August last year, aimed at reducing the response time to attend to vandalised sites.

The strategic agreements mean that the rapid-response graffiti teams employed by each local authority will now also respond directly to reports of graffiti on ScottishPower buildings and sub-stations.  ScottishPower provides some funding to the each local authority’s budget as well as also providing paint and supplies.

Before the new agreements got underway, ScottishPower took each of the teams through a safety training course, so they were fully aware of all the potential hazards that they might come across working on ScottishPower property.

David Lindsay, Civil Works Site Coordinator at ScottishPower explained: “Graffiti can be a major problem for ScottishPower because we have such a big property portfolio to maintain. In an urban area, you are generally never more than 400 metres away from a sub-station, and we manage about 20,000 of these buildings in total.

“The arrangements we have made with the local authorities mean that complaints about graffiti on our property are being attended to very quickly, and it is also freeing up the resources we previously assigned to these complaints to concentrate on other work. The pilot has been very successful and we are now looking at other areas in Scotland where we can roll-out this scheme.”

Media Information: Paul Ferguson 0141 636 4557 / 07702665924