A CHEPSTOW man has been charged with drink-driving after a collision in the early hours of Saturday morning damaged a telephone exchange box in the town centre.

The collision involved one vehicle and happened in Beaufort Square, near the Superdrug store.

The incident has been linked to widespread loss of phone and internet connections in the surrounding area over the weekend.

A Gwent Police spokeswoman said: “At approximately 2.20am on Saturday, May 18, Gwent Police were called to reports of a single-vehicle road traffic collision on Beaufort Square, Chepstow.

“The collision involved a Fiat 500 which was believed to leave the road and collide with a telephone exchange box.

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“A 23-year-old man from Chepstow was arrested at the scene and has been charged with driving while over the prescribed limit of alcohol.”

The damaged telephone exchange box caused connection problems for more than 100 homes in the Chepstow area, a spokesman for network maintenance firm Openreach said on Tuesday.

He added: “We can confirm that one of our roadside cabinets was badly damaged on Beaufort Square in Chepstow after being struck by a car on Saturday.”

“The damaged cabinet needed to be replaced and our engineers have been working hard to reconnect the 125 customers that lost service as a result of the incident.

“Our engineers have now completed this complex work and service has been restored but we would urge any customers that may be experiencing on-going issues with their service to contact their provider so that we can investigate further.”