07 May 2008 13:12 Child cable vandals in Notts still ignoring safety messages, warns Central Networks

Central Networks, the electricity distribution company for central England, is repeating urgent safety messages after children were again seen throwing leaves and tree branches into high-voltage power lines in Nottinghamshire.

Thousands of people had their electricity cut off by the tiny terrors throwing objects over the power lines in Warsop.

Engineers managed to restore power to the 2,363 customers affected an hour later, but police and the Fire Service were inundated with reports of explosions and fire from local residents who had seen the fault.

Just last week children in Warsop were twice seen by neighbours throwing tree branches across the 33,000 volt power lines.

Central Networks has now written to homes in the area advising them of the problem and asking them to keep a look out for future incidents.

It already takes its electricity safety teaching vehicles, the Power Discovery Zone, into schools to teach children about the dangers posed by electricity, but some are still unaware of the dangers of playing near power lines.

The company is now contacting local schools to arrange special assemblies in the area to drive home the dangers of playing with electricity.

As well as the inconvenience to customers, the vandals were playing with high voltage power cables which could have caused truly terrifying - and life-threatening - short circuits.

Phil Wilson, Customer Operations Manager with Central Networks, said: "The message is simple - power lines can kill, stay away from them.

"High voltage electricity can discharge from the cables when objects come into contact or even come near them. That power can travel and could leave someone nearby with serious burns."

Ends

Notes to editors:

• Central Networks brings power to 4.9 million customers across central England through 133,000km of underground and overhead cables 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.
• The Power Discovery Zone website (www.powerdiscoveryzone.com) is designed to support the Central Networks Power Discovery Truck which is a free resource that visits local schools to teach pupils about electricity and electrical safety.
• Teachers who would like the truck to visit their school should go to www.powerdiscoveryzone.com and follow the directions in the Teacher's Zone.

For further information contact:

Andrew Barrow on 024 7618 3677