A FARMER had a 'lucky escape' when a high-voltage power cable snapped off the line and fell on to the arm of a digger. 

It then set alight to a field in Poundon, Buckinghamshire, before Bicester firefighters came to the resuce. 

The 11kv cable, enough volts to kill a person, supplied electric to around 6,000 homes which were out of power on Saturday afternoon. 

Read more: firefighters called to bins on fire at midnight 

Despite being in shock the digger driver had managed to make a speedy getaway from the line and dialled 999 and 105 - the emergency number for power networks. 

Bicester Advertiser:

Taking to Facebook, Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue shared photographs of the dangling lines, saying: “If you are involved in an incident involving fallen electrical cables, if you can safely move away do so, but if not – stay where you are, raise the alarm and do not attempt to move from your safe position.

“The emergency number for all UK power networks is 105 – from any phone.”

They added: “Around 6,000 properties were affected by the outage and are currently being resupplied by Western Power distribution.”