Nearly 500 homes near Leighton Buzzard have electricity turned off after car involved in police chase collides with pylon

The electricity supply to hundreds of homes near Leighton Buzzard had to be turned off after a car involved in a police chase struck a pylon.

As reported previously here, a person needed cutting free from the car after it collided with the electricity pylon on the B488 in the hamlet of Horton just after midnight on Wednesday morning (January 5).

But to enable repairs to be safely carried out power supplies had to be interrupted. A UK Power Networks spokesman said: "Engineers worked quickly and safely to repair third party damage to an electrical pole following a road traffic accident in Horton in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

"Power was turned off for safety reasons for 483 customers at 1.29am and restored at 2.06am, leaving one customer off supply while the final repairs took place. This final customer was back on supply at 6.40am when the job was completed."

The car involved in the incident originally came to the attention of police in Newton Leys just over an hour before the crash.

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: “Officers attempted to stop a vehicle acting in a suspicious manner and travelling at speed in Newton Leys, Bletchley, at around 10.50pm on Tuesday.

“During a pursuit, the vehicle left the road in Horton Road, Horton, and collided with a pylon and a fence.

“The driver, a 28-year-old man from Little Chalfont was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving, failing to stop for police, possession with intent to supply cannabis, drug-driving, driving without a licence and driving without third-party insurance. He has been released under investigation."

Two fire crews from Bedfordshire attending the scene and used hydraulic rescue equipment, and casualty manual handling gear to release the injured person, who was passed into the care of South Central Ambulance Service. A second person released themselves from the vehicle. A road closure was put in place while the crews worked at the scene.

The police spokesman added: "Both the driver and passenger, a woman in her 20s, were taken to hospital with minor injuries, but have since been discharged.”

One resident, who had a fence and brick wall damaged in the incident, told the LBO: "My wife and I became aware of sirens approaching from Leighton Buzzard. There was a big bang and the sirens stopped after a while.

"On going out into the road we found several police cars around a vehicle that had left the road and was buried in our fence. There were about ten patrol cars, so we believed that they were all involved in the car chase leading to the collision with the fence.

"There was some damage to the brickwork on the retaining wall. Most of the debris, car parts and such were cleaned up by the vehicle recovery team and the police. My son and I recovered the remains of the fence."