Power was lost to more than 60 homes after a Ford Escort XR3i crashed into an electricity junction box in Southend.

The car crashed on Eastern Esplanade at the junction with Lifstan Way at about 2am on Saturday.

Police said there were between four and six people in the car but the passengers ran off after the accident.

A man, who police believe was driving the car, was taken to Southend Hospital suffering from a minor head injury. He was then taken into custody at Southend.

The crash severed 240 volt power cables in the box which caused an automatic power cut to homes in The Esplanade, Lifstan Way and Bryant Avenue.

The sparks started a fire which burnt out the car. Fire crews from Southend were on hand to deal with the blaze and the road was closed to all traffic.

Sgt Paul Baines said: "The occupants of the car were extremely lucky they did not suffer serious injury."

The car was first spotted driving at speed down Eastern Esplanade by a police patrol car going in the opposite direction.

A police spokeswoman said: "The officers were alerted because the car was travelling quite fast. Before they turned round to follow it the car then crashed into the junction box."

A fire service spokesman said: "The cables in the box were snapped and were causing sparking which set fire to the car."

Engineers from Eastern Electricity were called to the scene to make the box safe and power was eventually restored to the first homes at about 10am on Saturday with the rest being restored in the early afternoon.

Eastern Electricity manager Les Hart said: "There would have been an immediate isolation of power when the crash happened because the fuses in the box would have tripped.

"But that knocked out power to about 60 homes in the area and our engineers were working to repair that and restore power."

The accident caused several thousand pounds damage to the box and cables, he said.

Repairs - workmen get busy mending the junction box after the crash

Picture: STEVE O'CONNELL

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