THOUSANDS of homes have been left without power after the Sizwell B nuclear power station went off-line in its first unplanned shutdown for around three years.

THOUSANDS of homes have been left without power after the Sizwell B nuclear power station went off-line in its first unplanned shutdown for around three years.

Homes and businesses across East Anglia, London, Cheshire and Merseyside were affected by the incident between around 11am to 1pm yesterday.

Sizewell B and the Longanett coal-fired power station in Fife both went off-line within several minutes of each other as electricity demand outstripped supply.

Stuart Larque, spokesman for the National Grid, said: "We think it will be a case of business as usual again today. We have a very robust system in the UK, it rarely fails and that's why everybody is talking about it so much."