May the Force . . .

I AM not surprised children received electric shocks from playground swings under overhead power lines (Mail).

It is known that power lines can send electrical charge to grounded objects.

As a young engineer in the Eighties working in power stations, I noticed bundles of fluorescent lighting tubes would hum if carried under the overhead transmission lines behind the power generating units.

They would even flicker and fluoresce if held at one end and pointed towards the power lines. The effect was like a Star Wars lightsaber.

DAVID KUHR, Totnes, Devon.