POWER WAS interrupted at a travellers’ site and surrounding properties after vandals shot at and damaged an electricity pole in Darlington.

Air guns were used to target electricity poles near Honeypot Lane, causing significant damage to electrical equipment.

The electricity supply to the nearby travellers’ site and other properties had to be cut for almost three hours as a result of the incident, which was reported to Northern Power Grid this morning.

Nigel Walker, Northern Powergrid’s Vulnerable Assets Manager, said: “This deliberate and reckless attack on the power network, as well as being extremely dangerous, has caused massive inconvenience to our customers who were left without power while our teams carried out urgent repairs.

“We take every reasonable safety precaution to protect our equipment from attacks such as this, but there is only so much you can do if people are intent on causing significant damage. We would ask anyone who saw anything suspicious activity around our equipment in Honeypot Lane to contact us, the police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.”

The incident has been reported to police.