May Gurney firm fined after cable strike

A street lighting worker suffered severe burns after striking a live 132Kv cable while installing a lamppost in east London.

Martin Rose was operating a mechanical breaker for May Gurney subsidiary T Cartledge in Tower Hamlets when he hit the cable.

Cartledge has been fined £18,000 by City of London magistrates and the council £15,000 following the accident in October 2005.

The case has also prompted a warning from the Health and Safety Executive about using mechanical equipment.

HSE inspector Janet Seggery said: “This is a dreadful case where the employer had failed to provide plans of underground electrical cables.”