Sponsored by
Leyland town centre in explosion drama
A major tragedy was narrowly averted after an underground explosion brought parts of Leyland town centre to a standstill.
Shoppers and traders watched in horror as an electricity cable in Hough Lane exploded and sent a manhole cover flying into the air.
Several businesses had to close as the emergency services turned off the power in the area, but one trader said it was just a miracle nobody was killed.
The blast was near to a pedestrian crossing outside Atkinson's jewellers.
Paul Atkinson was talking to a customer and watched as the drama unfolded at around midday on Wednesday.
He said: "I looked outside and the manhole cover was sent flying about 15ft into the air. If someone had been walking past at the time it would have killed them. It was a loud explosion.
"There was a lot of smoke and someone called the fire brigade as the area was cordoned off.
"We closed at around 12.20pm. We'd been busy in the morning and we lost a fair amount of business."
Sally Hunter from Heaven on Earth hair and beauty spa opposite the blast site said she lost 2,000 in trade after being forced to close.
She said: "A fireman came in and said we had five minutes before the electricity was turned off.
"At the time we had about 18 clients, some of whom had colours on. We had to get the colours off with cold water and had to stop trading.
"We were closed all day, as were a lot of businesses in Hough Lane. Our electricity didn't come back on until about 10pm.
"We had to cancel all our clients but because the electricity was cut off, we couldn't turn our computers on.
"Customer care is our priority and people were still arriving for appointments. The fact it was snowing meant it was really cold outside, but there was nothing we could do.
"There are several hairdressers in the area and we were all affected. Thomas Cook had to close early and so did Nicola Jane opposite."
Nicola Jane, from the designer clothes store of the same name, said: "I looked out the window and there were fire engines and the whole area had been cordoned off.
"The manhole cover that had came off was in pieces of the floor. I've never seen anything like it.
"It was a good job it was quiet, otherwise it would have been very scary. It's just a good job no-one got hurt.
"We didn't take any money that day and we had no electricity. At 6.30pm I came back and there were still workmen outside."
A spokesman for United Utilities said over 200 customers were affected by the incident.
He said: "The explosion was caused by a fault on a piece of equipment known as a link box which is used to connect underground electricity cables together.
"We think the fault happened because water had managed to find its way into the equipment causing it to fault.
"We got calls just before 11.30am and our engineers attended the scene due to the damage to the equipment.
"Our engineers worked as quickly as possible on the repairs and we got service restored that evening.
"We apologise for the inconvenience caused by what was an unusual incident."
A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said: "Fire and Rescue were contacted after reports of smoke coming from the utility covers.
"We closed the zebra crossing close to the post office soon after and it will reopen when it is safe to do so."
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Leyland
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Heavy sleet
Temperature: 2 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 4 C to 7 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: West
