Shiney

Surprise, Surprise!!!!

Thanks BT :gnthb:

Thanks very much Kandy for passing on my message :thmb:

At the moment we are the only house in a half mile radius that has a telephone line that is working. The engineers worked really hard yesteday from early morning until 8 p.m. and only stopped when they had got one of my telephone lines working. (It must have been all the tea and coffee that we provided :D)

There were three vehicles with hoists, A drilling and erection vehicle and three other engineer vehicles. The accident had snapped the pole in front of our house and taken down the wires all down the road. The 100ft cable that ran from the pole to our house was found in our back garden . So the release of tension on the cable must have shot it straight over our roof.

I'm just uploading some photos to Photobucket so I'll put them up in a minute (or two).

 

The accident happened at 6.30 p.m. on Thursday.

From examining the ground yesterday morning I have worked out that the driver came round the corner too fast, lost control, spun in towards my garden, hit the pole with his driver's door and then spun round into the garden.





When I, and another driver, got to him he was conscious, able to talk but confused. The injured man was trying to open his door (which was crushed) and I told him that he mustn't move until the ambulance arrived. We quickly checked that there was no petrol leaking from the vehicle and that the ignition was off and there was no apparent evidence of fire. The other driver called the emergency services while I rushed indoors to get a blanket.

I left the other driver talking to the injured man whilst I rushed back inside to get my car keys so that I could bring my car forward to shine the headlights onto the broken pole that was dangling across the road. Meanwhile the traffic that had been stopped by the accident all turned round and had to try other ways of completing their journeys.

Befor I could get into my car there was another loud bang and a girl in a mini had come along the road and driven straight into the pole. She was not at all to blame. The broken part of the pole (about three quarters of it) was dangling across the road, suspended off the ground by the cable from the pole opposite. She, naturally, had been looking at the road whilst driving whereas the pole (which is black - and it was pitch dark out there with no street light) was suspended at the height of the top of her windscreen. The pole smashed into the top of her windscreen and roof. Fortunately she wasn't injured but was in a bit of shock.

So now we had two people to attend to. I took her indoors into the warm and gave her a cup of tea. Then all the emergency services turned up and took over. The man had a nasty cut and a large bump on his forhead and he was holding his chest which must have been hit pretty hard by the airbag. He was rushed to hospital.

The road was closed for four hours. The girl was with me (having more tea ) for three hours and the AA came along and took her and the car back to her house 20 miles away.

The police said that they would bring us the insurance detail of the injured man so that we can claim for the damage to the front garden. BT will also charge his insurance company (probably mega-money as there are so many vehicles and men involved). They hope to finish all the work this weekend.


This was the site after most of the debris was cleared.




He hit the pole hard enough to move it qutie a distance in the ground.





Of course it started raining once the men really got going with the work.





This was the pole that the broken one was suspended from - that was damaged as well.





And the engineer starting to work on our house.

 

:gnthb: Hey shiney glad you are back so soon.! Looking at the photos & reading what happened it is good it didn't end up more seriously....! The young girl was so lucky. doesn't bear thinking about what might have happened if she had been in a bigger taller vehicle...!!!:(

:gnthb: Thank goodness for those involved that you & your neighbour were able to help them straight away until the emergency services arrived.....

:thmb: I am also amazed at the speed of BT as well...! :yho: Or do you have special powers over BT shiney..???:lollol:

Let's hope it will all be a case of.. "All's well, that ends well"...

 

Yes, she was extremely lucky.

As BM said, he was here for our Open Garden and we were only discussing how badly people drove on this road. They travel much too fast as we are on a blind bend that doesn't seem particularly curved but is very deceptive.

Marley, Kandy was right, I reckon that the tea and bickies worked wonders. :gnthb:

We're still waiting for one of our lines to come back on. Apparently the accident affected something at the exchange and they are having some difficulties.

 

Hi borrowers,

Yes, there are large SLOW signs painted on the road and it is a 40 m.p.h. road. The road is perfectly safe even at 50 m.p.h. as long as the driver is careful. It is the fact that it is a blind bend that is dangerous. The driver would have no knowledge of any obstruction that may be just around the bend - or me coming out of my driveway.

In this instance, no ice on the road and it wasn't raining, it had to be carelessness. He was probably in a hurry to get home from work. :(

 

I think the driver will be OK. The police may let us know when they give us his insurance details.

I've given my name and address to the girl. She was driving a company car and I said that I would be a witness for her if her insurance company or employer gets awkward. :thumb: