Greater Manchester man lucky to be alive after trying to recover branch from power line
Electricity North West say they can't fathom how the man wasn't injured
Last updated 4th Mar 2018
A walker who tried to pull down a fallen branch from a live electricity cable in Hyde's been described as the ‘luckiest man alive’.
After ‘feeling a tingle’ he called Electricity North West who immediately cut power from its control room in Manchester and advised him to stay away from the line.
Chris Fox, the company's incident manager said: "Electricity can travel through things like branches and can kill instantly. It can also jump, so how he avoided death is simply incredible.
"He owes his life to a freak combination of circumstances which we still can’t quite fathom, including his gloves, his strong walking boots and the fact the branch must have been completely dry. Even so, we can’t believe he escaped unharmed. As soon as he contacted us we cut power to the line, and our specially-trained engineers and linesmen have attended site to remove the branch.
"It is essential for anyone who sees lines down or debris touching lines to stay away and call the emergency power safety number 105 as soon as possible. This will put them straight through to their local network operator who can deal with the situation safely."