TWO men blocked the road through a Hampshire village to prevent motorists driving over live power cables.

James Reynolds and David Shelley sprang into action after part of a huge oak tree in Exbury, near Beaulieu, came crashing down and dislodged overhead wires.

Both men work on the Exbury Estate, which includes the award-winning gardens owned by the de Rothschild family.

Realising the danger to traffic they closed the road through the village yesterday by deploying cones used on the estate and barriers that were outside the Exbury Club.

Mr Shelley said: "I was working about 200 yards from the club when a pensioner came over and told me what had happened.

"A massive branch had broken off an oak tree opposite the club and brought down about 150 yards of cable, which ended up on the carriageway.

"We decided to shut the route to traffic. If you've got live wires lying in the road you're asking for trouble."

Mr Shelley, who lives in the village, said his house was damaged when the cable came down and connecting wires attached to the property were ripped out of the brickwork.

Engineers were sent to Exbury to repair the damage to Southern Electric equipment and restore supplies.

A Southern Electric spokeswoman said only three properties lost their power.

She added: "A branch of a tree came down and we are looking into exactly why that happened."

Exbury Gardens were unaffected by the power cut, which began at 9.30am and lasted several hours.