Seventy-one-year-old Kathleen Malloch escaped with minor cuts after smashing through a Belco utility pole on North Shore Road.

The crash blacked out properties in north Pembroke and had Belco scrambling to restore power.

Mrs. Malloch, who was driving her new car, told The Royal Gazette yesterday: "It's a heck of a place to put a pole.'' The utility pole was on the edge of the sidewalk -- at the same level as the road -- and only inches from the side of the road next to Ducking Stool park.

Mrs. Malloch, of Langton Hill, Pembroke, said she had been driving in Bermuda for 30 years without incident. She bought her car only four months ago.

Sparks fly as Belco pole goes down The incident occurred after she left her house and headed to her daughter's Paget home.

She took the corner a little too wide and struck the rotten pole bringing the bottom half crashing to earth, and leaving the top half suspended in mid air, held up by taut live wires.

Power was turned off at 10.45 a.m. enabling engineers to fix the lines. About 30 customers from Clarke's Lane to just east of C-Mart on North Shore Road were affected.

Houses on Langton Hill were also left without power, and a Belco engineer on the scene said restoring power was the priority.

He said a new pole would be installed. It would take a couple of hours before the lines were reconnected and turned back on.

"This is the first pole down this year,'' he said, just two days into the new year.

The engineer confirmed that the pole was rotten all the way up, and Police were yesterday advising motorists to take alternative routes to avoid traffic delays which lasted over lunch time.

A Belco spokesperson confirmed that power was restored by 3.47 p.m.