A TEAM of firefighters was kept waiting for four hours for BT to arrive at the scene of an accident after a car knocked down a telephone pole.

The delay meant five firefighters were unable to attend emergency calls for a large part of Thursday night.

The crash happened at 7.47pm in Cranleigh Road, Southbourne, when a BMW collided with several parked cars and knocked over the pole.

The cars damaged included a red Nissan Micra, a black Ford Focus, and silver Peugeot MPV and a white Ford Escort van. The force of the collision pushed two of the vehicles into the gardens of two properties.

It is believed that the driver of the car, a woman, may have been taken ill at the wheel. She was cut free from the car and was taken to Poole Hospital with minor injuries.

The telephone pole was cut from its base and fire officers had to use a winch to hold it in place and prevent it from falling on the car.

They remained at the scene until servicemen from BT arrived at midnight.

Craig Baker, station manager at Springbourne fire station, said: "We attended a road traffic accident in Cranleigh Road where we found a pole in a dangerous position and we have had to secure that pole while awaiting BT.

"Unfortunately due to the time taken and their limited resources, that has taken longer than we would have liked and as a result a fire engine has not been available for other incidents for a period of approximately four hours.

"This was an exception. In my experience it doesn't normally take that long."

Chris Orum, BT spokesman, said: "BT can confirm that a call was received soon after 8pm. However, there was no poling team and pole erection vehicle in the locality which meant we were unable to respond as quickly as we would have liked given the circumstances.

"A poling team from Southampton got to the scene as soon as they were able and made the pole and lines safe."

First published: August 22