Vandals risked their lives by cutting through wooden electricity poles carrying 33,000-vault overhead power lines with chainsaws, it's been revealed.
Electricity North West revealed one pole was severed and another snapped, which led to powerlines drooping and falling to the ground. The power company said someone could easily have been killed in the attack, which caused damage worth an estimated £60,000.
The incident in the Atherton area of Wigan was reported last Saturday. Police are now investigating and have issued an appeal for any witnesses to come forward. Electricity North West said the culprits got away with nothing.
Members of the public out walking spotted the damage and immediately reported it to the company. The towering wooden poles were only upgraded six months ago.
Electricity North West said: "The incident happened on Saturday morning in Atherton and despite making away with nothing, the culprits caused more than £60,000 worth of damage to the local electricity infrastructure.
"Engineers from Electricity North West, who operate the region’s power network, said the vandals who committed the offence were lucky to be alive as they took chainsaws to wooden poles which carry lines operating at 33,000 volts.
"Damage caused by the chainsaws included one severed wood pole, a snapped wood pole and powerlines drooping and falling to the ground, which engineers say could have easily harmed the culprits or passers-by."
Damien Coyle, Electricity North West's Transmission Operations Manager, said: "We were alerted by members of the public who saw that our equipment had been vandalised. They did absolutely the right thing, stayed well back and called us so that we could dispatch engineers to make the site safe and immediately carry out investigations.
"Fortunately, nobody was harmed or injured from what was a very serious and dangerous incident. These poles carry extremely powerful overhead lines and should not be interfered with. We have yellow 'danger of death' signs around of all of our assets for a reason and it’s vital people take note and stay away."
Inspector Adam Wall, of Greater Manchester Police's Wigan district, said; “This is of real concern to us and Electricity North West regarding the serious risks to safety that were posed and we are appealing for anyone who has any information that may help us in our investigation to call 0161 856 1602 quoting incident 984 of 22/10/22 to ensure we can keep our local communities safe.”
Electricity North West has asked for anyone with any information to contact the police. The network operator also reminded anyone who sees any damaged equipment to call them immediately for free on the power cut number, 105, so they make the site safe and can dispatch engineers to make repairs.
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