A truck driver has been fined £300 after crashing into an electricity cable and causing a power outage.

Marc Alan Phair, aged 45, of Peel Road in Douglas, hit the overhead line whilst transporting a mobile cement silo on the morning of May 27.

Police who were called to Main Road in St John’s were forced to close the road while the Manx Utilities Authority carried out repairs.

Phair admitted driving without due care and attention and was sentenced at Douglas Courthouse on Thursday last week.

His advocate, Paul Rodgers, urged Magistrates to ’show leniency’, saying the qualified HGV driver thought that he had carried out all the ’necessary checks’.

’He did take precautions,’ Mr Rodgers told the court.

’He was driving slowly, he used lookouts and he had done a recce to check for overhanging cables.’

Magistrates were also told that Phair had already paid the MUA £382 in compensation.

Chair of the bench Gill Eaton ordered Phair to pay £50 in costs.

She said: ’We are of the mind that you did make efforts to check the height of the vehicle.’

Phair’s driving licence was also endorsed with three penalty points.

The vehicle is pictured at the scene.