An accident involving a delivery truck and a utility pole caused a good number of Oxford homes and businesses to lose power Friday afternoon.
A semi-truck making a delivery to Carla’s Fresh Market (1200 S. Lapeer Rd.) got tangled in some cable and phone lines while maneuvering behind the store and ripped off the top half of a power pole.
As a result, approximately 500 residential and commercial electric customers were left without power shortly before noon, according to DTE Energy spokesman Scott Simons.
From Uncle Boomba’s gas station to the Oxford Mills Shopping Center, all of the businesses along the west side of M-24, south of Drahner Rd., were left in the dark as DTE workers untangled wires and replaced the damaged pole.
Shawn McGuire, owner of Guido’s Premium Pizza inside Oxford Mills, said his store’s power didn’t come back on until shortly after 10 p.m.
As a result of the outage, McGuire was forced to throw away more than $2,000 worth of perishable food products.
‘We lost quite a bit,? he said. ‘I’d just got my food shipment in on Thursday. We didn’t lose all of it, but we lost a good chunk of it.?
When you’re in the food service business, McGuire said you have to err on the side of caution.
‘You can’t take chances when you’re dealing with the public,? he explained. ‘The policy in the restaurant business is when in doubt, throw it out.?
Fortunately, all of his food losses will be covered by spoilage insurance. However, McGuire’s not sure if his loss of business is covered. Typically, his store does four-to-five average days worth of business each Friday.
‘That’s our bread-and-butter day,? McGuire said. ‘It’s our busiest day by far. Of all the days, it had to be a Friday.?
Businesses located north of Carla’s Fresh Market were much more fortunate.
They had power restored between 1-1:30 p.m. Friday, according to Deputy Fire Chief Pete Scholz.