St Margaret’s Lodge manager Saied Nasser and his ruined IT equipment. (Picture by Tom Tardif, 0664491)

SPENDING a penny might have saved the life of a hotel manager. St Margaret’s Lodge Hotel was struck by lightning early yesterday morning, knocking out its electricity and telephones.

But for hotel manager Saied Nasser, the experience was even more frightening. ‘I’d been woken up by the lightning and had gone to the toilet,’ he said.

‘Then there was a big bang. I couldn’t move. All the lights went off and I thought the building had come down. I eventually went into the room and all my things were over the floor. I was shaking. I didn’t know what to think – I was shocked and I could not sleep after that.’

Investigating with a torch, Mr Nasser discovered that the lightning had travelled down his phone line, blown up the socket and blasted his broadband router, phone and lamp across the room. The items had literally been blown apart and there was black smoke in the room.

‘I was really lucky,’ he said.