Row over live cable in water-filled trench

A WATER-FILLED pit with a live electric cable in it on a busy north London street has a community worried as utility companies try to find and fix the source of the leak which is filling it.

A seven-year-old boy fell into the four feet-square trench and was hauled to safety, while a blind man has walked into the barriers surrounding it.

Passer-by Damian Duggan-Ryan rescued the boy in Stoke Newington Church Street, but fears the child could have been electrocuted.

Residents and local businesses have been lobbying Thames Water and London Electricity, but two weeks after the pit was dug, the hazard is still there said Mr Duggan-Ryan, 48, a writer. "If the cable had been damaged in any way then its contact with water would have been deadly. It seems little is being done, even though it has been declared an emergency."

Yesterday the trench was still full of water. A banner which read "caution electric cable" was floating in it. A Thames Water spokeswoman said: "It is a London Electricity hole and we were called in to find the leak that's filling it. We are liaising with them. We have endeavoured to fix it."

The Evening Standard has highlighted the problems caused by holes in the road as central London is dug up, causing massive congestion and disruption.

The Stoke Newington Church Street hole was dug so power could be supplied to a new housing development. The work is being carried out for London Electricity by 24/seven a company part-owned by the utility. A spokeswoman said there is no danger to the public.

"Our chaps are increasingly frustrated by the water. Thames Water has been out to look but hasn't come up with anything .

"We can't fill the hole until Thames Water has mended the leak and we are still waiting for that to happen."