POLITICIANS don't know what they'll encounter when they head out onto the streets to canvas for people's votes.

But Councillor Gary Long was certainly surprised by what happened while he was out delivering leaflets in Aspley on Saturday.

As he walked across Prestwood Drive a concrete lamp post toppled over and crashed into the ground where he had been standing only seconds before.

"I frequently get attacked by letterboxes and am not keen on big dogs but I have never been attacked by a lamp post before," Mr Long said.

"It's the last thing I expected to happen while campaigning."

The Liberal Democrat leader added that his narrow escape was a real cause for concern.

He said: "If it had come down a few seconds earlier it could have been serious.

"It was one of the really big concrete ones.

"There were no cars on the road at all and it's lucky more people weren't around."

Mr Long called the city council's emergency number and said the post was removed within 24 hours.

However, he added: "I'm hoping that the council will look into why this happened.

"It fell right from the base. They've got reinforced steel holding them up but that had rotted through.

"It's worrying – are there others like that?"

Marc Nelson, from the council's street lighting team, said: "Incidents where lamp posts fall over are very rare and injuries from such incidents are, thankfully, almost unheard of.

"The column had cracked below ground level, which suggests that there had been some previous impact damage, and the high winds caused the column to snap.

"It would have been impossible to see the damage below ground as part of a routine inspection.

"Contractors are checking all the lamp posts on Prestwood Drive this week to make sure they are safe and are replacing the damaged column.

"They routinely inspect all street lights across the city every six years but reports of any damage or concerns trigger an immediate response."