Employees from the power company were working on one of the Church Street utility poles on Monday before it fell taking two others with it.
All three poles belonging to the Guyana Power and Light Company (GPL) were deemed to have been rotten. One pole crashed onto a Honda CRV that was parked outside the Bonny’s Supermarket.
Stabroek News was made to understand that workers attached to GPL were on the scene carrying out rehabilitative works around midday on Monday when one pole which hosted three transformers gave away.
The collapse of the first pole brought down two additional poles, one of which landed on the parked CRV belonging to Roy ‘Bonny’ Kirton, owner of Bonny’s supermarket while the other landed across Church Street, blocking traffic.
Speaking with Stabroek News yesterday, Kirton related that prior to the incident, he had observed the workers testing the stability of the poles before one of the men mounted the pole that hosted the transformers. Not long after this, Kirton recalled seeing the GPL worker jumping off the pole before it subsequently collapsed, taking the other two poles with it.
While no one was injured as a result of the incident, both the front shed of his business as well as his vehicle were damaged.
Additionally, both the power supply and the flow of traffic in the area were obstructed for almost the remainder of the day.
Kirton related that a team of GPL workers were called in and worked assiduously to replace the poles that same day.
When Stabroek News visited the area yesterday, damage to the front shed of the supermarket was visible while there was also evidence of a rotten utility pole.
Kirton further noted that he has since visited the GPL office to make a claim for the damage to his business and vehicle and was assured that the company would cover the expenses incurred as a result of Monday’s incident.
