Stormy conditions knocked out power supplies

Scottish Hydro-Electric said that emergency crews worked all New Year's Day to reconnect about 1,000 homes following storms on Wednesday evening.

Most of those homes affected were in Tayside and the Highlands and Islands.

Scottish Power said that customers in Fife, the Borders and the south west were also without supply but have now been reconnected.

Access problems

By Thursday afternoon, many people had been reconnected but problems still remained in some areas.

Both companies said their engineers worked around the clock to restore supplies as soon as possible.

A Scottish Hydro-Electric spokesman said the crews faced an extra challenge trying to get access to the areas where there were faults, due to snow.

Snow and ice also continued to cause problems on some roads in the Highlands and severe weather caused some disruption to Irish Sea ferries.