A DRIVER who crashed into a telegraph pole, before fleeing the scene, has left residents in the road with no broadband services.

The incident involving the silver BMW took place in Royston Avenue, Southend, last Thursday at about 4.30pm, and was witnessed by a number of outraged residents.

As a result of the crash, the telegraph pole was severely damaged, and left hanging over towards the ground.

One of the residents, who did not want to be named, said: “The driver flew around the corner and smacked into the telegraph pole with an almighty bang.

“The guy looked youngish, maybe late 20s, looked like he didn’t quite know what to do.

“He dumped the car and then fled on foot. He ran towards Royston garage.

“We won’t have any broadband now until sometime this week and the poor recovery guys were out there until about 10.30pm in the freezing cold.”

He added: “Personally, as the road is a rat run, I think it needs speed humps or even a camera or something as there are a lot of parked cars and I reckon it’s easy to lose a bit of control at that spot if going too fast as it is exactly where the double yellows end and parked cars start.

“Given this is a busy road leading to a large primary school it just shows what an idiot this person is.

“My ten-year-old was under the pole about two minutes before it happened. It’s thoughtless and dangerous.”

The road was eventually closed in order to recover and remove the pole.

A spokesman for Essex Police said: “We were called to reports that a car had collided with a telegraph pole just before 4.40pm on January 31.

“The driver is believed to have left the scene.

“Our enquiries are ongoing.”

Anyone with information should call 101.