DOOR-to-door workers lopping a tree quickly scarpered after bringing down a branch onto a live power cable on Wednesday afternoon.

The incident close to the Broadmead housing estate caused the overhead line to come down and damaged soffits on a house in Westwood Road.

It also caused traffic chaos in the area as police were forced to close the road between Trowbridge and Westwood while power workers made repairs.

A Wiltshire Police spokesman said: “At around 3pm yesterday we received a call from a member of the public about unsafe power cables, which had been caused when a tree had been felled in Westwood Road, Trowbridge.

“Officers attended to assist with a road closure, while engineers dealt with the issue. The road was clear by 7pm.”

An eye witness said: “The men were cutting down branches on a tree and one fell onto a power cable to the house. It brought down the line and damaged the plastic soffits.

“Once they realised what they had done, the men quickly scarpered and the householder was forced to call the electricity distributor for help.”

Scottish and Southern Electricity said they had to replace the pole and repair the cable to restore power to the house.

No other houses in the area were affected by the incident.