In the rolling hills and quiet towns of southern Scotland, a sudden and dramatic power surge has thrust thousands of residents into a modern-day crisis, laying bare the region’s dependence on digital technology. Early Wednesday morning, August 27, 2025, communities across Lanarkshire—including the town of Biggar, home to roughly 3,000 people—awoke to find their mobile phones and internet connections dead. The culprit? A surge in electricity that melted underground cables, leaving a trail of chaos and frustration in its wake, according to reporting from the Scotland home page.
The blackout’s impact was immediate and severe. Residents found themselves cut off from vital services, unable to contact loved ones or even call emergency numbers such as 999. In a scene reminiscent of a digital apocalypse, desperate locals drove miles in search of a phone signal, crowding into laybys to make calls or check on family. As one Biggar resident described to BBC, "It’s been chaos. I had to drive around five miles before I could get a signal. All the laybys were rammed with people sitting on their phones after doing the same thing. Some people have even told me they couldn’t even call 999."
The disruption extended far beyond mere inconvenience. Shops, suddenly unable to process card payments, were forced to accept cash only. But with many ATMs out of service—also victims of the outage—only those who already had cash or could travel significant distances to find a working machine could make purchases. Cynthia Downham, co-owner of Biggar’s Enchanted Crafts, summed up the mood: "The town has literally come to a standstill. You can’t even get money out of your own bank account. You can’t even ring 999."
Behind the scenes, engineers scrambled to respond. Openreach, responsible for much of the UK’s communications infrastructure, confirmed that the underground network in Biggar had suffered "extensive damage" after a faulty live electric cable—owned by a third party—caused a phenomenon known as an arc, unleashing a surge powerful enough to fry more than two kilometers of telecoms cables. Scottish Power Energy Networks, which oversees the region’s power infrastructure, dispatched teams to repair the faulty cable and coordinated with telecommunications providers in a race to restore services. "Engineers on the ground are in the process of installing 2km of new cables – which will be used to reconnect those customers impacted as quickly as possible. We’re equally frustrated by the disruption this has caused to our local broadband services, and we’ll update customers as soon as the repairs have been carried out. In the meantime, we thank people for their patience," an Openreach spokesperson told the press.
The blackout has reignited debate over Scotland’s vulnerability to technological failure. Police Scotland, which has closed stations across the country in recent years, issued a stark warning: people unable to call 999 should "go to the nearest police station, hospital, fire or ambulance station" to report emergencies. For many, this meant driving considerable distances—an unsettling prospect in an emergency. The incident has underscored just how reliant modern Scottish communities have become on digital connectivity for everything from banking to basic communication and public safety.
As engineers work around the clock to repair the damage, another battle over Scotland’s energy infrastructure is brewing—this one in the courts. On September 1, 2025, campaigners from the group Galloway Without Pylons (GWP) announced they had secured a judicial review against the Kendoon to Tongland Reinforcement power line project, a controversial scheme approved by the Scottish Government in February. The project, led by SP Energy Networks (SPEN), aims to build more than 100 new pylons to replace aging infrastructure and secure the electricity supply for around 30,000 residents, while also providing low-carbon energy to the network.
The campaigners, however, are not opposed to updating the power line—what they object to is the method. GWP argues that the new line should be buried underground to protect the local environment and landscape, a move SPEN has rejected as unfeasible. Paul Swift, a leading voice in the group, is spearheading the judicial review, which is set for a preliminary hearing on September 5 and a full hearing on September 29 at the Court of Session in Edinburgh. The group previously raised £26,000 to fund a public inquiry and is now seeking an additional £20,000 for the judicial review, already having received £10,000 in donations. Swift has pledged to refund donations if the court rules in GWP’s favor.
The Galloway Without Pylons campaign is rooted in both environmental and community concerns. While acknowledging the need to upgrade the existing route, the group insists that above-ground pylons would scar the landscape and harm the region’s natural beauty—a key draw for tourism and a source of local pride. Their stance has won support from residents wary of further industrialization of the countryside, even as others point to the urgent need for reliable, modern infrastructure in light of recent events.
The Scottish Government’s decision to approve the project came after a public inquiry, during which a government reporter actually recommended the scheme be refused. Ultimately, ministers overruled that advice, citing "the benefits of protecting the security of electricity supply for around 30,000 residents and providing low carbon energy to the network." The clash highlights the delicate balance policymakers must strike between environmental stewardship and the pressing need for resilient, future-proof infrastructure—a debate now playing out in the nation’s highest civil court.
For many in southern Scotland, the timing of this legal battle feels particularly poignant. The recent blackout in Lanarkshire has exposed just how fragile the region’s lifelines can be, with a single cable fault capable of plunging entire communities into isolation. As engineers labor to replace more than a mile of ruined cables and restore digital services, the broader question looms: how best to modernize and protect Scotland’s energy and communications networks without sacrificing the landscapes and way of life that make these communities unique?
With the judicial review set to unfold in the coming weeks, all eyes are on the Court of Session in Edinburgh. The outcome could set a precedent for how infrastructure projects are planned and executed across Scotland, shaping the balance between technological progress and environmental preservation for years to come. For now, residents in Biggar and beyond are left to grapple with the immediate realities of a "digital apocalypse," even as the fight for the future of Scotland’s energy grid moves from the countryside to the courtroom.
As Scotland faces the twin challenges of technological vulnerability and contested modernization, the events of the past week have offered a stark reminder: in an age of digital dependence, the resilience of both infrastructure and community is more crucial than ever.
