Subscribe to this blog's feedNow here’s a chilling mystery. Central Networks has highlighted the case of a would-be cable thief who seems to have had a very lucky escape.
Its engineers were called to reports of a power cut near the village of Creswell on the border between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire late last Saturday night.
When they arrived they found a blowtorch still lit and a hacksaw embedded in an 11,000V cable. There was evidence of burning in the area and the engineers said the thief could have suffered serious burns.
Some 795 customers lost supply, which was restored after an hour and a half.
Phil Wilson, customer operations manager with the distribution network operator, said: “The sheer stupidity of cutting through power cables should be glaringly obvious to everyone.
“At the very least, putting the hacksaw through the cable would have created an almighty bang and the line would have burned for quite a few seconds, showering anyone involved with molten copper.
“They left their tools behind, so we can only assume they left in a hurry or they were injured and were dragged away by an accomplice.”
Central Networks has pointed out that the practice of targeting power lines and electricity substations has already caused two deaths, a number of serious injuries and more than 50,000 customers being left off supply.
Now the company is working with the charity Crimestoppers and offering a £1,000 reward for information leading to a successful prosecution and conviction.
Frankly, the whole thing beggar’s belief.
