Commuters escape injury after vandals trigger ‘lightning strike’

Lightning strike: A large crater was created at Central Station following the vandal's attack.

**Transport cops are hunting a trio of men who used a roll of tin foil to trigger a 'lightning strike' which brought chaos at Scotland's largest train station.***

Commuters narrowly escaped injury on Thursday, July 19, when vandals threw tin foil onto overhead power lines from a car park near Central Station, in Glasgow city centre, creating a potentially deadly electric flash.

The potentially deadly electrical arc, similar to a flash of lightning, struck platform 15 and left a huge crater.

Fortunately, no-one was standing on the platform when the dangerous surge struck, but stunned eye-witnesses reported hearing a loud band and seeing a flash of light.

British Transport Police said three men, aged between 20 and 25, were spotted hurling the tin foil roll from the adjacent NCP multi-storey car park just after 6pm.

A spokesman for British Transport Police said: "At 6.10pm, we received a report that three men had been seen throwing a roll of tin foil from the NCP car park next to Central which hit the overhead lines.

"It caused the electricity to arc, which is similar to a lightning strike, and caused a hole in the platform. The hole has now been filled in.

"It appears to have been a random act of vandalism and we appeal for witnesses to come forward."

As engineers worked on filling in the hole, crowds of passengers hoping to travel to Ayrshire on the 6.15pm Glasgow to Ardrossan train suffered disruption to the busy service.

Rail bosses at Scotrail said no other services were affected by the act of vandalism.

Transport police can be contacted on 0800 40 50 40 or call Crimestoppers in confidence on 0800 555 111.

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