Electricity supplies to parts of Hilperton and Semington have been halted after a workman was electrocuted working at the site of Trowbridge Ruby Club’s new ground this morning.

 

During the incident, which happened at 9am, in Devizes Road, a man in his 30s  was electrocuted when its believed the crane he was standing near made contact with live power cables.

The man, employed as a banksman at the Ashford Homes site, went into cardiac arrest with medical staff using a defibrillator to resuscitate him before he was taken away from the scene by Wiltshire Air Ambulance to Royal United Hospital Bath at 9.45am.

 

Wilshire Police and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) are currently investigating at the scene with Scottish Electricity cutting electricity supplies to nearby properties.

“We were called this morning by police and asked to isolate supplies to 559 customers in Semington and Hilperton,” said Sharon Miller-McKenzie, spokesperson for Southern Electric.

 

“We are hoping to have our customers restored in the next two hours but there’s no guarantee of this as we have to wait for the HSE to say everything is safe.”

The man operating the crane didn't suffer any injuries in the incident but is said to be in shock. 

One of the businesses effected by the power was the Lion & Fiddle Hotel, in Trowbridge Road, Hilperton. 

Landlord Henry Nurkowski said: "We have just opened again now, just in time for lunch but we were down for a couple of hours. We've just called our cleaner back to do the rooms this afternoon as she couldn't do anything earlier.

"With so much development going on locally we are quite used to power supplies being knocked out."