Farmer to blame for power cut (From Oxford Mail)

Farmer to blame for power cut

9:10am Friday 7th September 2012 in Witney

POWER was cut to more than 5,000 homes in villages west of Oxford.

Villages affected included Stanton Harcourt, Aston, Chimney, Standlake and North Hinksey on Wednesday night.

Southern Electric Power Distribution (SEPD) was called out to restore the power. The company did not provide details of when the power cut began or how long it went on for. It follows a similar incident last week, near Bracknell, when an incident resulted in power cuts to nearly 3,000 homes.

While no-one was hurt, and a full investigation is being carried out, it is believed that on both occasions the damage was caused by farm equipment colliding with the overhead network.

Now the company has issued a warning that farm workers need to be more careful.

Ewen Christie, regional operations manager for SEPD, said: “It is imperative that farmers who continue to work late into the evening take extra care to check the whereabouts of overhead lines, not just in their fields, but around the roads and tracks they use to access them.

“With many farmers trying to make up for lost time when rain has led to lengthy delays, they were now taking advantage of drying winds and warmer weather to work longer into the evening,” he said.

“And whilst some are approaching the end of their wheat harvest, they still have other later crops such as linseed and beans to cut.”

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