13 June 2023 , 14:26
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Insurers have refused to pay out after a whole street's power was taken out by lightning.
A pair of semi-detached houses were directly hit, taking out a telegraph pole, in Meir, Stoke-on-Trent during Sunday's thunderstorm.
Now, multiple families have been left without TV, WiFi and landlines but those affected say they can't claim on the insurance as it was an "act of God".
James Bradbury was relaxing in front of the TV when the extreme weather struck his solar panels. It is believed the bolt spread across the entire roof, leaving neighbour Kieran Byatt’s property with a hole and live wires exposed, as well as damage to the inside of the property.
Properties in Meir, Stoke-on-Trent, were struck by lightning (StokeOnTrentLive)James told Stoke-on-Trent Live: "I was watching a film and I heard the thunder and lightning just like everyone else, but then I heard a big bang. I came downstairs and there were sparks and smoke everywhere.
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"The neighbour across the road had a friend over and they came running out of his house pointing and shouting ‘lightning’s struck your solar panels’, so my mum and I came outside straight away.
"I looked for a number online, but the only one I found said it wasn’t recognised, so I called the fire service because I didn’t know who else to call. There were bits of metal from the solar panels and other bits of debris all over the drive and on the car.
"Luckily there was no damage to the car. My TV had exploded both upstairs and downstairs, as had the WiFi router and landline. Sky has said it’ll take two to three weeks to fix the WiFi.
“The fire service looked around the house - even in the loft - and declared it safe and the council turned off the solar panels. The fire service didn’t say if the solar panels were the cause or if it’s just a coincidence because they said they’d had a lot of reports about lightning strikes all over Stoke-on-Trent. Either way, I don’t feel worried or any more at risk for having the solar panels.”
Residents had no TV, WIFI or landline usage (StokeOnTrentLive)Nineteen-year-old Georgina Byatt, Kieran’s daughter, was home at the time of the incident. She said: “I didn’t know what had happened. I heard a loud bang so I went downstairs and there was smoke everywhere. The WIFI router exploded in front of me and the electricity had stopped working."
Kieran added: “The lightning has completely fried all the WiFi and landline cables. There were bits of wire all over the drive. We’ve got to re-tile the roof and wait for repairs to the WiFi and landline. We haven’t even got hot water because the system is wireless and works through the WiFi, and we don’t have any WiFi at the moment. The worst thing is we have to pay for all the damages ourselves because insurance say the lightning ‘was an act of God’.”
One household's wiring and walls were damaged (StokeOnTrentLive)John and June Burndred live next-door-but-one to James and were also affected by the strike. John said: “We’d been celebrating my birthday in the daytime with our family, and then the TV went bang after they’d left. We’ve been told it’s going to take until Wednesday or Thursday for the company to come and sort out the landline. There’s an elderly lady across the street who only uses the landline so I’ve been asking if she’d like to use my phone.
“I’ve spent £350 on a new aerial today because we can’t claim on our home insurance because they say ‘it’s an act of God’. Thankfully Gary from Stoke Aerials has came to the rescue. As for the TVs, one is worth £1,000 and it was a gift from our daughter the Christmas before last - there was smoke coming from it and it won’t turn on at all now. Luckily we can afford to replace what we’ve lost, but not everyone around here is that fortunate."
June added: “I’m scared of thunder and lightning, so I was sat on the stairs when I heard a loud bang. It was horrible, I was so frightened, it really sounded like it was going to come in through the door. How something can still be deemed as ‘an act of God’ in this day and age is unbelievable.”