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NIE were constantly warned about dangers
Andersonstown News Thursday 2nd of May 2008
By Ciarán Barnes
Community workers have been pleading for more than 10 years for increased security around the Glen Road power station where two youths were electrocuted on Monday.
The teenagers were treated in hospital for burns after two poles were cut down at the Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) site.
A 25-year-old man arrested near the scene was charged on Wednesday with aggravated criminal damage and criminal damage. He is to appear at Belfast Magistrates Court on May 27.
The act of vandalism left 1,400 homes without electricity for almost two hours.
Although condemning the attack, Sinn Féin Councillor Gerard O’Neill insisted it came as no surprise to local people and he accused NIE of having an inadequate approach to security at the site.
On Monday – just hours before the incident – local residents appeared in the Andersonstown News calling for new fencing and better security at the power station.
“Security at the site is a mess. Every weekend gangs of teenagers gather there drinking into the night. This was waiting to happen,” said Cllr O’Neill. “We’ve been telling NIE for more than 10 years to secure this land, but all it has been doing is putting sticking plasters on the problem instead of dealing with it properly. Someone will be killed unless the waste ground around the power station is properly closed off to the public.”
NIE Customer Relations Manager, Valerie Curran, defended the security arrangements at the site – part of which the company has been trying to sell off to developers.
She said: “We have repeatedly repaired the fence, spent thousands of pounds installing gates to the site and we have cleared dumped rubbish on numerous occasions. Unfortunately our efforts have been met with repeated acts of vandalism, illegal dumping and graffiti.
“We share in the frustration and residents’ worries regarding the damage caused.”
One local woman who saw paramedics treating the two electrocution victims said the men were “in a bad way”.
“The faces and hands of the two men were black and their hair was singed and standing on end – it was like something out of the cartoons,” she said. “One of the boys was worse than the other, he was shaking like there was still electricity going through him. I saw the ambulance pick them up on the Suffolk Road and take them to hospital. They are lucky to be alive.”
Editorial, page 6.
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