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Glasgow Live
Glasgow Live
National
Craig Williams

Glasgow alert as unmarked military convoy carrying nuclear warheads passes through city

A weapons convoy carrying 'up to eight' nuclear warheads has been tracked driving right through Glasgow.

The unmarked military convoy was tracked by anti-nuclear campaigners as it made its way from Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) Burghfield near Reading to Royal Naval Armaments Depot Coulport (RNAD) on Loch Long - the storage and loading facility for the nuclear warheads of the United Kingdom's Trident programme.

Nukewatch UK believe the convoy travelled west on the M74 right through Glasgow's southside to join the M8 south of the Kingston Bridge, before passing over the Erskine Bridge and travelling past Loch Lomond on the A82.

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A member of the public spotted the convoy heading over the Erskine Bridge, tweeting: "Big Nuclear armed forces convoy this afternoon heading over Erskine Bridge. Wonder where their headed?"

Campaigners based at Faslane Peace Camp past Helensburgh later captured the convoy on video passing the camp around 2:45pm yesterday afternoon, suggesting that the unmarked convoy passed through Glasgow around an hour earlier.

The convoy normally includes huge lead-lined lorries carrying the nuclear warheads, along with a fire engine in case a blaze breaks out, a moving workshop, a decontamination unit, tow truck and scores of MOD police vehicles.

It usually makes the journey around six times per year when they "take the warheads down to refurbish them and then transport them back up again" according to Nukewatch UK.

Speaking Nukewatch UK Campaigner Jane Tallents told Glasgow Live: "Yes it seems to have passed through Glasgow, up the M74 and across the M8 and over the Erskine Bridge. Initially they just did that only if it was quite late at night but clearly it arrived yesterday afternoon up at RNAD Coulport so it would have done that route [through Glasgow] during the day.

"We were monitoring its movements and it was spotted at various points along the route. From where it was to where it arrived at it would have taken it right through Glasgow. There were four of the big carriers in the convoy which suggest it was carrying eight nuclear warheads - two on each one. It did come from Burghfield so it will have been picking nuclear warheads up."

Jane has previously shared her deep concerns with Glasgow Live that if a serious accident were to happen involving the convoy in Glasgow, it would not only mean that populated areas of the city would need to be evacuated, but also that an accident would put severe pressure on local hospitals.

She added: "Our concerns is that the emergency plans for if there is a serious accident with a convoy mean that any casualties would have to be taken to hospital and obviously at that point they could be contaminated with material from the weapon and so they would all have to be put into isolation wards.

"The chances of an accident are quite small but the consequences of one are not. All the other emergency plans for it...it's not just the casualties, it's about anybody that is within 600 metres of the accident would have to be evacuated."

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