Truck knocks out VINLEC poles at McKies Hill

A RUNAWAY truck carrying liquid petroleum gasoline cylinders downed two utility poles on Tuesday, triggering a localised outage that took hours to rectify.

THE TRUCK was extensively damaged after its path of destruction but it is reported those within weren’t very seriously injured

While the situation could have been very dangerous for driver Saurn Rodriquez of Arnos Vale and the two conductors sitting beside him, no loss of limb and life has been recorded from the incident, and the cylinders were said to have been mostly empty.

Initial investigations show that at about 1:15 p.m on Tuesday, August 31, the truck, bearing the number plate TM765, was travelling from the Leeward side of the island to Arnos Vale using the Level Gardens route. Upon reaching the top of McKies Hill, the driver turned left to head down to the Richmond Hill public road. Just before the vehicle reached the area of the Haddon Hotel, the brakes are alleged to have given out.

In an effort to stop the vehicle, the driver apparently attempted to pull to his right so that the truck could rest on a wall, but a woman was supposedly walking in this direction. Instead, he opted to swerve to the left and hit a utility pole head-on, pulling down another pole higher up the hill in the process, before coming to rest beside a house just underneath the hotel.

The occupants sought medical attention afterwards, the driver complaining about pain about his body, and the conductors noting cuts and bruises about their bodies. The first order of business following this was to remove the cylinders from the back of the truck.

Workers from the St Vincent Electricity Services Limited (VINLEC), Ruddy’s Electrical Services, and FLOW were among the approximately 20 people who gathered in the aftermath to rectify the damage. Sweating and calling for water, the individuals faced the probability of tackling the problem into the night.

An announcement that power had been restored to residents of McKies Hill and Beachmont that had lost electricity, was made on VINLEC’s Facebook page at around 8pm.