ALMOST 800 homes were without power for several hours on Saturday night after a farmer struck an overhead cable.
A farm vehicle made contact with the overhead line near Bolam, County Durham, just after 6pm. An inquiry has been launched into how the accident happened.
Nobody was hurt in the incident, but supply was disconnected to 779 customers in the villages of Heighington, Bolam, Ingleton and Gainford.
Engineers worked to restore power, which came back on gradually. The last eight homes were reconnected at about 10.30pm.
Ian Dryden, system operations manager for power company NEDL, said: "A farm vehicle made contact with the 20kv overhead line and that is what caused the incident.
"When the vehicle came into contact with the overhead line, the device which disconnects the supplies operated automatically. That is the way the system is protected.
"The supply was disconnected and we went out, made the problem safe and restored power again."
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