SNP man Brian Lawson, who represents the Paisley and Ralston areas, expressed fears over catastrophic consequences if lines of trucks are allowed to keep travelling along the M8.

The 19-vehicle convoys carry up to six nuclear warheads, each seven times as destructive as the A bomb which destroyed the entire city of Hiroshima in 1946.

These convoys went along the M8 and over the Erskine Bridge on January 19 and previously on July 23 last year.

Councillor Lawson said he is now concerned for the lives of people living and working in Erskine and Paisley.

“These convoys could well be involved in a traffic accident or even suffer a terrorist attack, causing a release of highly toxic radioactive material into the atmosphere,” he said.

“Even an explosion is possible.

“I am fearful for the life and health of people living and working along the route in Paisley and Erskine.

“The convoys go between the Coulport missile base in Argyll and the AWE atomic weapon factory in the south of England about every six weeks.

“They take various routes, endangering many communities on the way. The only way to end this is to get rid of nuclear weapons altogether.” Councillor Lawson attended the CND-led march and rally in Glasgow on Saturday to discuss the matter.

Speakers at the rally in George Square included deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon. It was held as part of a Peace Walk from Holyrood to the Faslane nuclear base.

“Our party has promised that there will be no place for nuclear weapons in an independent Scotland and this is what the majority of Scots want,” Cllr Lawson said.

“A CND study has shown that there is nowhere else in the rest of the UK with the necessary geographic characteristics to re-site the nuclear weapon system. So the effect of their removal from Scotland would be their removal from the UK.

“This would demonstrate what many military leaders privately believe, that nuclear weapons add nothing to a country’s security, are of no military use and only eat up massive resources.” Councillor Lawson says he has also discovered that the council’s Civil Contingency staff, employed to coordinate large scale emergency situations, do not know when these convoys travel across Renfrewshire.

He has written to the council’s chief executive asking him to contact the Ministry of Defence to ask for details of the convoy routes to be provided to the council well in advance.

A Renfrewshire Council spokesman said: “There are standard procedures which apply to the transport of military materials. “Renfrewshire is no different to any other area in that respect.

“There is no requirement on the Ministry of Defence to inform the council of any such transports although police and fire and rescue services can be informed.”