LUCKY TO BE ALIVE
Family’s horror after utility pole crashes into garden:
A MUM feels lucky her two children are still alive after a huge utility pole came crashing into their garden.
Bethan Morris awoke to find her daughter’s Wendy house completely destroyed and wires strewn across their paddling pool.
She believes the accident was caused by an overgrown tree – which the family had repeatedly asked the council to cut down – falling adjacent to their home on Well Street, Abercynon.
It is thought the tree then leaned on thick phone lines overhead and sent the wooden pole, on Plantation Road, toppling to the ground.
“My children would have died if they had been out in the garden at the time,” said Bethan.
“We are so, so lucky nobody was hurt.”
Bethan said she was in bed with her two children Bleddyn, nine, and Gwenllian, two, when the pole landed in the garden in the early hours of Sunday, June 30.
“Bleddyn has autism and it’s very difficult to get him to bed,” she added.
“And Gwenllian doesn’t sleep very well either, so the three of us were in bed together and my husband Jon was in another room.
“The tree fell right next to the wall where my bed is.
“If it had hit the house with any force, it would have come right through into my bedroom.”
She said the street “resembled a crime scene” the following day as the road needed to be cordoned off to allow the fire service, Rhondda Cynon Taf Council and BT engineers to assess the damage.
“It was carnage. All the neighbours were out in the street. I had to stop Bleddyn from running outside as I didn’t know if the wires were live or not,” she said.
“Apparently the pole coming down also affected the lifelines for many of the older people in the street.”
Bethan said Bleddyn is now too afraid to play in the garden for fear it will happen again.
“The garden used to be somewhere safe where Bleddyn could do his own thing in the summer,” she added.
“If he was getting in a temper or was on the verge of a meltdown, he could go out there.
“But the whole thing has shaken him up. He now thinks if he’s out in the garden something will fall on him.”
Bethan, who added that she had been hit on the head by a falling branch in the past, said she first contacted RCT Council four years ago to remove the dangerous tree.
“It has been growing and growing towards our house for years – but nothing was ever done about it,” she added.
The pole was cleared by BT two days after it fell, and RCT Council has now removed the overgrown tree and surrounding hedges.
A spokesman for Openreach, a division within BT, said: “Our engineer was on the scene within an hour of the incident being reported to us (at 3am on Sunday, June 30) and they were able to make the area safe. Thankfully nobody was hurt.
“Safety is our numberone priority, and we test our poles regularly to ensure they’re safe for engineers and the public.
“We’d urge anyone who thinks a pole might be unsafe or damaged to let us know as soon as possible – either through their phone or broadband provider, or directly by calling 0800 023 2023 or visiting our website.”
A spokesman for Rhondda Cynon Taf Council said: “The council can confirm it was contacted following reports that a tree had fallen on to BT lines, and is now in the process of investigating the incident.
“Council officers, along with contractors, have recently returned to cut back overgrowth on the whole street.”