13 June 2006 00:00 Central Networks issues urgent safety message following near-fatal fishing line incident

Central Networks, the electricity distribution company for central England, is sending out an urgent safety message to Derbyshire youngsters after a near-fatal incident that caused a widespread power cut last week.

More than 750 customers in the Clay Cross area lost supplies for over two hours on Wednesday afternoon while engineers worked to repair damage caused to an overhead power line by a young angler.

Anita Davis, Network and Public Safety Adviser at Central Networks, said: “We received a call from a customer who had witnessed a young lad messing about with the overhead lines, apparently having been fishing down at a nearby pond.

“His actions caused significant inconvenience for our customers, with our engineers working hard to restore supplies as quickly as possible but the really frightening thing is how close he came to serious injury or even death.

“Carbon fibre rods and poles conduct electricity and, at high voltages, electricity can jump gaps so you don’t necessarily have to touch overhead lines to get a lethal shock.

“Fortunately, on this occasion, no-one was injured but this boy had a very lucky escape – the danger of serious injury, or even death, is very real when it comes to interfering with our electricity network.”

Anyone who sees any suspicious behaviour around electricity substations, pylons or overhead lines should either call Central Networks on 0800 096 3080 or contact the Police.

Ends

Notes to editors:
• Central Networks is the new name for Midlands Electricity and East Midlands Electricity. The company brings power to 4.9 million customers across the East and West Midlands through 133,000km of underground and overhead cables – enough to go round the Earth almost four times – and via almost 97,000 substations;
• Central Networks covers an area from the Peak District in the north to parts of Bristol in the south, and from the Welsh Borders to the Lincolnshire Coast.

For further information contact:
Emily Highmore on 024 7642 4583
A selection of Central Networks pictures is available free of charge to the media by registering at www.newscast.co.uk and looking under Distribution