Fortunately, we are infrequently visited by gales gusting at more than 100mph. We are not prepared for such storms and when they come they cause terrible damage. The rescue services have performed a Herculean task to return life to near normality. We include in their number the electricity linesmen who have again battled to restore power to homes and businesses without it for more than 48 hours. But we wonder whether their employers,

ScottishPower and to a lesser extent Scottish Hydro-Electric, have been getting the balance right between expensive acquisition and investing in the network to guarantee its security.

Power lines were broken by more than 700 falling trees. Is there a lesson to be learned from checking their condition so the risk of them snapping lines in the future can be reduced? There is certainly a lesson for ScottishPower as far as communicating with customers is concerned. When they are without power people turn to the radio and telephone for news of when it will be restored. It is unacceptable that so many anxious customers could not reach the so-called ''helpline''.