WOODSTOCK – A dump truck accidentally hit telephone lines Wednesday and left about 300 residents without telephone or Internet service for nearly six hours.

The dump truck, operated by a town employee, hit the Oxford Networks wires on Church Street about 3 p.m.

Town Manager Vern Maxfield said the body of the truck had been left up after the driver dumped a load a gravel at a nearby job.

Most residents who lost service lived in the Church Street area or south along the old county road, Maxfield said.

Craig Gunderson, chief operating officer of Oxford Networks, said crews restored service about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Although this is the first time such an accident has occurred in Woodstock, as far as he knows, he said construction trucks quite frequently hit lines accidentally, knocking out phone and Internet service.