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Hundreds without power after crash: Police say 19-year-old driver faces drink-driving charges

Published on January 16^th 2010, 1:30pm

Six hundred Whangarei Heads residents were without electricity after a car ploughed into a power pole.

The Ford Telstar station wagon was heading from Ocean Beach towards Parua Bay with six people in the car when it failed to take a bend at the intersection of Whangarei Heads and Reotahi Rds. It hit a power pole beside a bus stop about 6pm on Thursday. All occupants escaped uninjured.

Wires and cables scattered across Whangarei Heads Rd caused a traffic jam, with people getting out of their cars and standing in the shade during the sweltering heat.

Whangarei police Sergeant Tai Patrick said the five male passengers, aged between 18 and 24, were returning from collecting scallops when the accident happened. The 19-year-old male driver was tested and allegedly had a breath alcohol level of 464 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. The legal limit for drivers under 20 years is 150mcg.

The Deck cafe employee Chevy Vette said she was serving when she heard a thud and saw the power pole begin to fall. ``A couple of people were helping the boys out of the car. They were in shock and stressing out a bit about what had happened. I stayed with them at the bus stop to make sure they were OK.’‘

She said a few people in cars seemed impatient after the accident. ``One guy with a boat drove over the powerlines before we knew if the power was turned off.’’ Doctors appeared at the scene ``left, right and centre’‘, Ms Vette said.

The Deck had to be closed early, with a night’s takings and the wages of four staff down the drain.

Northpower’s Communications Manager, Vanessa Wilson said 600 homes were without power, and although half of those had power restored within 45 minutes, some were without electricity for four-and-a-half hours.

Staff on standby raced to the Whangarei depot and loaded a replacement pole. The repair was ``quite difficult’’ given it was a complex angle pole which required specialist equipment to guide wires, Ms Wilson said.

During repairs linesmen had to manage road conditions until traffic management arrived onsite. Sergeant Patrick said further charges may follow.

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