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Eve with Willow pictured last year |
Dog is electrocuted in street
‘It could have been a child’ says distraught owner after pet’s agonising death
ELECTRICITY company EDF is under investigation after a dog was electrocuted by a lamppost believed to have been left live for 11 days.
Within minutes of German Shepherd Willow being killed by a 240-volt shock a nearby workman tested the lamppost and found it live – 11 days after a Camden council official gave it a clean bill of health.
“Gorgeous, fluffy” Willow died as owner Eve Miles walked her along Prince of Wales Road on Friday, metres from the recently closed Kentish Town Swimming Baths.
Ms Miles, 33, who suffers from depression, said five-year-old Willow was a stray, brought to a rescue home on the day she was due to be put down.
She added: “It was love at first sight. She only had eight months of a nice life. She was my reason for getting up in the morning.
“One friend said Willow probably saved a child, she was considerably larger than a toddler. We were told we were lucky we weren’t killed moving her. I’ll spend the rest of my life avoiding lampposts in the rain.”
The New Journal has learned council officers knew of a fault in the lamppost 11 days before the accident but believed there was no electricity supply running to it.
It was reported to EDF but, according to their contract, workmen had 15 days to respond to the call.
The entire lamppost became live after a cable burned out, leaving it unearthed.
Now the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has ordered Camden Council to investigate the circumstances surrounding the fatal accident, following suggestions the strength of the deadly current could have killed a small child.
It is the third serious accident concerning public property in the last few months. Health and safety investigations are ongoing into the death of Ralph Kennedy, who was electrocuted working on a council estate in September and into how two-year-old Saurav Ghai was killed when a wall collapsed on him in last month’s storms.
Devastated Ms Miles, of Camden Street, said: “We were on the way back when she yelped and fell, she started screaming. The electricity seemed to be coming through the pavement, it was steaming. I was holding her leg and could feel a pulse through my hand. I just thought it was me panicking. She started convulsing, blood was coming out of her mouth. Other people could feel the electricity. You could tell she was burning. She ended up wrapped around the lamppost.”
Nearby workmen, Grafton pub regulars and neighbouring Abbey vets came out to help.
Ms Miles said: “I will be changing my electricity company. I’ve spoken to police and they advised me to go to the council or Citizens Advice Bureau to take legal action.
“They’ve killed my dog and anyone who was there could have ended up dead.
“You don’t expect to walk along a perfectly normal pavement and for that to happen.
“I hope EDF don’t see what’s happened as a legal problem to squirm out of. Maybe if they imagine it was their dog or, even more tragically, their own child and act accordingly to make sure measures are taken to avoid this happening to anyone else.” A spokeswoman for EDF Energy Networks said: “We sincerely apologise to the owner for the distress this caused.
“Health and safety is a top priority and this is an extremely rare occurrence. Street lights are earthed and insulated and posts and underground cables that supply them are designed to cut out when a fault occurs.
“In this case a highly unusual fault developed and led the cable, including the earth connection, to burn away leaving the lamppost unearthed. When the dog came into contact with the lamppost this completed the circuit, leading the pillar to become ‘live’.”
The Department of Trade and Industry has been informed.
A council spokesman said: “Once we knew of the fault, our contractor carried out an investigation and confirmed these lampposts had no electricity supply going to them. We reported the failure to EDF.
“As soon as we were informed (of the accident), we contacted EDF to ensure they carried out emergency repairs. The lampposts are now safe and barriers have been erected to keep the public away from the site." |
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