ScottishPower is asking for the co-operation of motorists and householders this weekend as it moves a giant electricity transformer 20 miles by public road from storage in Paisley to a new site, an electricity substation two miles south of Kilmarnock.

The 361-tonne, 230-foot-long transformer and its transporter will be one of the largest loads to take to the Scottish roads in recent years. It will be powered by two tractors, each of 900 horsepower, with the load spread over 136 wheels.

The journey is necessary to replace the transformer currently in operation at the Kilmarnock substation, the major electricity feeder for much of Kilmarnock and Ayr, which has developed a fault and requires to be shipped back to the manufacturers for repair.

ScottishPower, Strathclyde Police, local authorities and transport consultants have been planning the operation for the last two months. Keeping inconvenience to a minimum has been their prime objective.

Most of the journey will be via major roads and will require no special measures other than the removal of a number of traffic lights and smaller items of street furniture.

But ScottishPower and the police have contacted residents who live on the part of the route which passes through Paisley and Kilmarnock requesting that they keep their vehicles off the streets while the load is scheduled to pass.

A special phone line has been set up to deal with enquiries (0141 568 3612) and the company particularly wants to hear from those, including any elderly and disabled, for whom this may cause some inconvenience.

The company will be again asking Kilmarnock residents for their co-operation in the near future when the faulty transformer is transported from the Kilmarnock South substation to the A77 following parts of the same route through the town.

It will then travel along the main coast road through Stevenston, Ardrossan, Saltcoats and Seamill en route to Hunterston for shipment south for repairs.

The local network has been reconfigured to ensure quality of electricity supply to area is maintained while the transformers are being swapped. The new one will be fully operational next month.

Alan Richardson, Managing Director of ScottishPower's Power Systems Division said: "We hope the exercise will go ahead with minimum disturbance to local people and to motorists who will be on the roads at the time.

"To maintain the high quality of electricity supplies to the Kilmarnock area we had no option but to replace the faulty transformer at the Kilmarnock substation".

Further Information:
ScottishPower Press Office
Gordon Laidlaw or Colin McSeveny,                         0141 248 8200

Editors Note:
The best picture opportunity is at Glennifer Braes in Paisley between 9.30am and 11.00am on Sunday