Queenslander risks death for killer Christmas light display

Updated about 2 hours agoTue 9 Dec 2014, 2:13pm

PHOTO: About 240 volts run through street lights, enough to kill somebody. (ABC News)

MAP: Idalia 4811

A Christmas fanatic in north Queensland has taken his light display to the extreme by risking death to make it stand out.

The Townsville man is accused of disconnecting the street light in front of his Burdell home to give his Christmas light arrangement more oomph.

Ergon Energy said about 240 volts run through the lights and the man could have been seriously injured or killed by the current if he made the wrong move.

“It’s not called the silly season for sensible activity,” Mark Timmerman from Ergon Energy told ABC 612 Brisbane.

“Fiddling with electricity is a deadly game.”

Locals alerted Ergon Energy that the lights were out last week and electricity safety authorities were due to visit the man to consider charges, which can be in the tens of thousands of dollars.

If someone had been injured or killed because of the tampering, the man would have been charged under the Electrical Safety Act.

Following the incident there were a number of lights which were tampered with in Idalia in Townsville’s south.

Ergon crews were called to several sites in the suburb to find the security cover plates removed from street light poles.

In at least one of the instances, live wiring was left exposed by the unknown perpetrators, potentially exposing members of the public to the risk of electric shock.

“[Those who reported the incident] said they had seen school-aged children hanging out,” Mr Timmerman said.

“We certainly ask parents to remind children of the dangers of that.”

The incidents were reported to police but so far no-one had been caught.