KEIGHLEY-district schoolchildren are being warned of the dangers posed by playing near electricity pylons and substations.

The safety message has been issued by Northern Powergrid, as the school summer holidays approach.

And the company – which is responsible for maintaining 60,000 miles of overhead power lines and underground cables, plus hundreds of substations, across the region – is urging parents and guardians to help educate youngsters.

"We work hard to spread our safety messages to thousands of children every year but we'd encourage parents to help us," said Geoff Earl, the firm's director of safety, health and environment.

"It's vital that children are reminded about the dangers so they realise that interfering, accidentally or otherwise, with any part of the electricity network can potentially prove fatal.

"Just five minutes chatting with them about the risks is all it takes so they understand what they should do if they see anything hanging from our power lines or accidentally kick a ball into one of our substations.

"Retrieving items yourself is extremely dangerous. Call us by dialling 105 and we'll send someone out from our engineering team to help.

"Doing the right thing and avoiding the extreme dangers of live electricity will help ensure that everyone can play safe and stay safe this summer."

Northern Powergrid's dedicated school safety presenters, Leena Markovic and Bob Knox, have visited more than 30,000 schoolchildren in the past 12 months and are visiting thousands more this year.

To arrange a free presentation, visit northernpowergrid.com/services-directory/school-safety.

Anyone wishing to report an electricity network safety issue or power cut should phone 105, a free number which connects to a 24-hour contact centre.