A GANG of thieves diced with death by cutting down poles carrying 11,000 volt electricity cables in the hunt for scrap metal.

Residents were left without electricity for more than 18 hours after three poles were felled in woodland near Pendle Water in Brierfield.

Police are hunting three suspects who are believed to have called at homes in the area and asked to borrow axes or saws before the power went down on Monday night.

United Utilities branded the gang's actions as 'irresponsible and highly dangerous', saying they had put local residents and their own lives at risk.

The incident was the latest crime caused by the soaring price of scrap metal. Thieves have targeted chuches, railway lines, cast iron road grids and underground cabling providing communication to the Royal Blackburn Hospital.

Officers believe the thieves were attempting to remove either the cabling or transformers, on top of the 'H' poles.

But police said the cables themselves did not fall to the ground after becoming trapped in trees, so the gang left empty handed.

Christian Ewen, a spokesman for United Utilities, said: "The thieves would only stand to make about £100 from a scrap metal merchant.

"I think therefore it is important to highlight that these thieves have risked their own safety and inconvenienced others for the sake of £100."

A resident of Robinson Lane said the thieves went door-to-door, asking where they could find saws or axes, before felling wooden poles in nearby woodland.

They believed the thieves may have begun chopping down the poles as early as Sunday night, after reports of "banging" in the woodland.

John Luffram, also of Robinson Lane, said: "A similar thing went on last year as well when they threw something on top of one of the poles and we lost our supplies.

"I have got digital telephones so I first noticed it around 6.30pm on Monday, when they started beeping. People were down here fairly quickly to sort things out though."

A portable generator was drafted in from Kendal to restore temporary power by yesterday lunchtime.

Engineers from United Utilities yesterday removed a number of trees, along the power lines route, so the poles could be removed an replaced.

Inspector Russ Procter, of Nelson police, said a 26-year-old man from Burnley has been arrested in connection with the incident.

He said: "This is a very silly and dangerous offence to carry out.

"The fact that someone has decided to cut down these poles not only puts their own lives at risk but could put other people's lives at risk as well.

"It is believed that their aim was to steal the copper conductors."

United Utilities spokesman Mr Ewen said: "We received a report at 7.45pm on Monday that a power cut had occurred which affected the Monkholme and Brierfield areas.

"Our engineers arrived on-site and discovered that several overhead poles had been chopped down, which caused the loss of supplies."

He said that chopping down trees was "fairly uncommon" but condemned the thieves.

Mr Ewen said: "This sort of anti-social behaviour is not only irresponsible and highly dangerous but also causes unnecessary inconvenience to our customers.

"We would urge these people, who we can only assume are prepared to put their own safety at risk causing vandalism, to seriously consider the consequences of their actions."

People wanting to assist the police investigation into the attempted theft can contact officers at Nelson station on 01282 425001.