Hundreds cut off as worker hits power line (From Herald Series)
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Hundreds cut off as worker hits power line
10:00am Wednesday 30th January 2013 in News
The digger
THREE hundred businesses and homes lost power in Abingdon yesterday after a worker using a digger hit an underground cable in the Bury Street Precinct.
Peter Wiblin, from Abingdon News Plus, said the outage hit town centre shops at about 11am.
Mr Wiblin said: “All the shops in the precinct and along the High Street lost power. We were all in darkness because a digger hit a main power cable.
“All the shopkeepers were just stood outside their shops.”
McLaren construction workers have been renovating the Bury Street shopping precinct since April last year.
In December, the developer in charge of the renovation, New River, said the work was finished, apart from “a few minor details”.
Engineers restored power at noon by rerouting supplies around the network. They will be working to fix the cable over the next two days.
Southern Electric confirmed the power cut had been caused by a workman hitting a cable.
