The City of Hamilton has apologised to the businesses and motorists affected by a power outage this afternoon.

There was an industrial accident at the corner of Victoria Street and Parliament Street when a contractor's employee contacted high voltage cable with a jack hammer.

Fortunately, the employee was wearing his full protective gear and was treated for minor injuries at the hospital.

He remains there for observation.

A spokesman for the CoH said: “It is standard practise for the utilities to mark out their services prior to the commencement of a project. However, this is not an exact science and there will an accident investigation with a report prepared for the appropriate authorities.

“The outage has affect the junctions of Church and Parliament as well as Victoria and Parliament so motorists need to take care when going home tonight as traffic will be affected. The outage has also affected a number of businesses in the surrounding city blocks. A Belco team is on site and we are waiting for their full evaluation and expected repair time line.”