A builder has been hit with a £24,000 bill after striking an underground mains power line that nearly electrocuted him.
Mark Staples was putting up a fence at his sister’s house when he hit the 11,000 volt cable, buried less than a foot below the ground.
It led to a village-wide blackout.
Doctors said he was “incredibly lucky” to survive and photographs show his chisel melted from the shock.
However, nine months later UK Power Networks sent him a bill for £24,000.
It said the high voltage underground cable sustained damage and the power to 1,368 customers was cut, which took engineers 10 hours to restore.
The shock has left the builder suffering nightmares and receiving a diagnosis of PTSD.
The 53-year-old has worked as a qualified builder for 14 years and was working on land he and his relatives have excavated and built on many times, without coming across underground cables.
He said: “We had dug a post hole just below a foot on the boundary where an old garden wall exists when I used my breaker to go through some footings to make it a little bit deeper for the concrete fence post.
"I had gone barely four inches with the chisel when there was a loud bang, flames and smoke and the deafening sound of electricity buzzing.
“I let go of the breaker’s handle instantly. They were plastic and I have been told that is what saved my life.
“We had struck a power main on my sister's property without any clear warning of its presence. It was not very deep. You would have expected there to be some warning.”
He was installing a new fence after a car crashed into the old one.
Because the builder from Swanscombe in Kent, has worked at the house for many years, and even recalls his dad working on it in the 1990s, he didn’t have reason to suspect there would be a hidden underground cable.
He knew electricity came through an overhead cable and didn’t think there would be another beneath the soil.
He added that there was no hazard tape to alert him, and said: “I have never come across this before.
“It all happened so quickly, I was just in shock. My brother-in-law came back outside and his face was just horror.
“I did not know what had happened. I thought my Kango had blown up but when we realised what had happened we knew it was serious.
“I could have died in the front garden, it is unbelievable I did not. I went to the hospital and spoke to a doctor who was one of many to state how incredibly lucky I was.
“I have been told countless times that it was a miracle I had no physical injury or even worse was lucky not to have been killed.
“The invoice opened up old wounds. At first, I thought it was a joke. It was an accident and now they have decided to come after me with a bill.
“I just wanted to forget about it. I did not go out that morning to hit the power main and try and kill myself, cause damage or shut the village down. It was the last thing I wanted to do.
“Would they have still sent the bill if I had been killed?”
Mark Staples was putting up a fence at his sister’s house when he hit the 11,000 volt cable, buried less than a foot below the ground.
It led to a village-wide blackout.
Doctors said he was “incredibly lucky” to survive and photographs show his chisel melted from the shock.
However, nine months later UK Power Networks sent him a bill for £24,000.
It said the high voltage underground cable sustained damage and the power to 1,368 customers was cut, which took engineers 10 hours to restore.
The shock has left the builder suffering nightmares and receiving a diagnosis of PTSD.
The 53-year-old has worked as a qualified builder for 14 years and was working on land he and his relatives have excavated and built on many times, without coming across underground cables.
He said: “We had dug a post hole just below a foot on the boundary where an old garden wall exists when I used my breaker to go through some footings to make it a little bit deeper for the concrete fence post.
"I had gone barely four inches with the chisel when there was a loud bang, flames and smoke and the deafening sound of electricity buzzing.
“I let go of the breaker’s handle instantly. They were plastic and I have been told that is what saved my life.
“We had struck a power main on my sister's property without any clear warning of its presence. It was not very deep. You would have expected there to be some warning.”
He was installing a new fence after a car crashed into the old one.
Because the builder from Swanscombe in Kent, has worked at the house for many years, and even recalls his dad working on it in the 1990s, he didn’t have reason to suspect there would be a hidden underground cable.
He knew electricity came through an overhead cable and didn’t think there would be another beneath the soil.
He added that there was no hazard tape to alert him, and said: “I have never come across this before.
“It all happened so quickly, I was just in shock. My brother-in-law came back outside and his face was just horror.
“I did not know what had happened. I thought my Kango had blown up but when we realised what had happened we knew it was serious.
“I could have died in the front garden, it is unbelievable I did not. I went to the hospital and spoke to a doctor who was one of many to state how incredibly lucky I was.
“I have been told countless times that it was a miracle I had no physical injury or even worse was lucky not to have been killed.
“The invoice opened up old wounds. At first, I thought it was a joke. It was an accident and now they have decided to come after me with a bill.
“I just wanted to forget about it. I did not go out that morning to hit the power main and try and kill myself, cause damage or shut the village down. It was the last thing I wanted to do.
“Would they have still sent the bill if I had been killed?”
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