Homes without power in Jacobs Well, Norwell and Pimpama after truck downs lines

A driver has been left red-faced after his truck became entangled in powerlines, cutting electricity to northern Gold Coast suburbs, following a simple mistake.

Emergency power repairs underway at Pimpama. Pic: 7News.

A truck driver has been left red-faced after knocking out electricity to homes and businesses by driving into powerlines with his tipper up.

The 64-year-old did not realise the tipper was still up after leaving a depot at about 10pm on Sunday, driving almost five kilometres before becoming entangled in the lines at Pimpama Jacobs Well Rd.

Police officers set up an exclusion zone until Energex crews arrived to safely help the truck driver from his vehicle.

He was not injured in the incident, however power was cut to premises in Jacobs Well, Norwell and Pimpama

“The truck has left the depot and unfortunately the driver has either forgotten or has thought he put the tipper down. But it didn’t go down,” Superintendent Peter Miles said.

“As a result of that he’s driven off and taken a number of powerlines with him, to a point that when he did come to a stop there were power lines wrapped around the vehicle.

“He was entrapped there for a short time whilst the live electrical wires could be removed.”

The driver returned negative results to drug and alcohol tests, however may still face police action, with officers investigating the cause of the incident.

“The highway patrol will look into whether any negligence was involved or whether it was purely an accident. They’re looking at also whether there was a mechanical issue with the truck,” Supt Miles said.

“ ... (But) I’d say that there might be a traffic infringement notice heading his way. The onus is on drivers to check their vehicles.”

Supt Miles said the driver, who is believed to have travelled four and a half to five kilometres with the tipper up, was shocked and “slightly embarrassed” by what had happened.

He said it was fortunate the incident happened late at night when there was little traffic on the roads.

“(It was) extremely dangerous,” he said. “You can imagine, if it was eight o’clock, peak hour traffic, kids on bikes riding to school, it could have been much more serious than it was.”

Nearly 60 homes were still without power on Monday morning as a result of the incident. Most were back online by the afternoon.