Hamilton, Niagara Cogeco customers without power after impaired driver flees police, hits hydro pole

A 31-year-old man is facing impaired driving charges after a collision in Hamilton’s east end that caused wide-spread outages for Cogeco internet and TV services.

No one was injured during the incident, but the crash took out a telephone pole and temporarily cut power in the vicinity.

Police say they received a call about a possible drunk driver near Cameron Street and Main Street around 7 p.m. Monday.

Police attempted to stop a truck when they arrived on scene, however the driver fled in his vehicle.

Authorities say they did not pursue the vehicle but were able to catch up with the driver a few minutes later after he had crashed into a telephone pole at Queenston Road and Pottruff Road North.

Constables were able to arrest and charge the man, who is now facing criminal offences for impaired driving and fleeing from police.

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On Tuesday morning, Cogeco took to social media to notify its customers in the Hamilton and Niagara Region of an ongoing service disruption to one of its fibre-optic connections. Images from the post indicate that the repairs are occurring at the same intersection as yesterday’s crash.

A company spokesperson said a crash in the area severed a connection and that crews had been sent to repair it.

“We would normally need to wait for the hydro company to put up poles on each [side] of the highway to be able to fix our fibre permanently, but they warned us that it wouldn’t be done before late in the evening. So, we are working on a temporary plan to restore your services back as soon as possible,” the company wrote on Twitter/X.

By 8 a.m. the company said it was able to make some repairs but could not speculate on long it would take to completely fix the connection.

Some customers reported that their service was restored around lunch time, while the company said to fix the problem it would have to splice together 576 strands of fibre – a process they explained could take upwards of 19 hours.

Cogeco said it would be dispatching extra workers to expedite the process.

At the height of the outage, the company says around 8,000 customers in Hamilton and upwards of 135,000 in the Niagara region and surrounding areas.

Cogeco says service was back up and running for most customers by early afternoon and by the late afternoon, all service was restored.

We're experiencing a fibre cut due to an accident impacting our customers in Hamilton & Niagara Region.

Our local techs are onsite working to resolve this issue, which involves crossing a highway & major roadways. No ETA yet, we'll keep you updated. TY for your patience. pic.twitter.com/3don6GBcbV

— Cogeco (@cogeco) January 30, 2024