Power cut staff flee Gypsies - Tayside

From the Sun

TERRIFIED energy workers fled dozens of angry Gypsies after they tried to turn off a dodgy electricity supply at the Travellers’ site.

The mob confronted Scottish and Southern Energy staff when they arrived to disconnect an illegal power link to several homes.

The panicked investigators had to summon cops, who escorted them back to Double Dykes in Perth to complete the job.

The drama came after SSE launched a probe following a tip-off — and discovered more than half the site’s 20 chalets, built with taxpayers’ cash, were bypassing their pre-pay meters.

The Scottish Sun has learned that some had been scamming the system since the site was re-opened in 2008, using thousands of pounds’ worth of power for free.

And last night a former resident said: “It has been one of the worst-kept secrets. Almost everyone in the site has rigged up their meters — and they have been doing it for years.”

An SSE spokeswoman admitted the staff were “accompanied” by police at last week’s incident.

She added: “We found unsafe connections and subsequently disconnected these properties. Following the work, the properties were reconnected and we will continue to monitor them. ”

Perth and Kinross Council spent more than £1million building the chalets at Double Dykes four years ago.

A Tayside Police spokeswoman said: “We attended the site to assist SSE”