Police pull plug on lamppost power

Angela Winfindale and her two sons were left out in the cold as temperatures plummeted to -12 deg C after police responded to calls reporting a suspicious cable.

The wire had been hooked up by network operators Yorkshire Electricity Distribution Ltd (YEDL) to a lamppost to provide temporary power to the house in Farnsworth Road, East Herringthorpe.

But it is believed that police and council officials suspected that it was drawing energy for a cannabis farm.

Engineers had routed the cable through their letterbox to guarantee light and central heating, vowing to return the following day to carry out permanent repairs. 

But hours later police instructed electricians from Rotherham Borough Council to disconnect the cable before waking the family, with officers at the front and back doors of their home.

Mrs Winfindale said: “At around midnight, there was ‘Bang, bang, bang,’ on the door and when I woke up our electricity was off and there were police officers at the front and back doors.

“I answered the door and a police officer told me to ‘get in.’ He suspected we were running a cannabis farm.

“It took some time and a call to YEDL before they believed that our electricity supply had been hooked up to the lamppost by engineers trying to restore my supply as a temporary fix.”

Despite an apology from the police officers, the impromptu raid party failed to reconnect the electricity supply, forcing Mrs Winfindale to await the return of YEDL engineers the following day.

The mix-up left the family without heat and light for 13 hours, with YEDL finally completing permanent repairs at around 1pm last Monday).

Mrs Winfindale said: “It’s bad enough that the police ordered the supply to be cut off without coming to the house or ringing YEDL in the first place, but then to simply leave us, knowing we had no heating or light as a result of their mix-up, was disgusting.”

A spokeswoman for the borough council confirmed that the connection was cut by an electrician from the authority in the interests of public safety and on the instructions of the police.

She added: “The electrician was instructed by the police to disconnect the cable. He then left the site because he was informed by the police officers that they would contact the electricity company.

“We can understand why the matter was reported to the police because a cable leading from a lighting column often indicates some form of illegal activity.

“However, we have spoken to YEDL and ask that they review the procedure when carrying out works of this kind so that clear lines of communication can be maintained between all relevant parties.”

A police spokeswoman said: “We had not been informed by YEDL that they had carried out this temporary measure and there was no signage on either the streetlight or at the address to notify anyone.

“Once officers had established that the work had been carried out legally and that the cable would not cause any risk to the family or other members of the public, they completed their enquiries and left the scene.”

A spokesman for YEDL said that the lamppost hook-up was standard procedure in the circumstances.

He admitted that the company had not informed the authorities straight away but said that its priority had been “to ensure that the family had light and central heating.”