A MAJOR blackout hit parts of Felixstowe today – affecting more than 300 businesses near the Port of Felixstowe.

Engineers worked throughout the day to rectify the fault in and around the Haven Exchange, close to dock gates one and two at the port.

Power was restored to the majority of the 314 affected premises by 12.30pm, but engineers continued to work on the remaining 18 homes and businesses for several hours afterwards.

A spokeswoman for electricity distributors UK Power Networks said: “After a customer reported low volts this morning, engineers attended and found a fault had developed on the high voltage electricity network.

“In order to work in safety and locate the problem quickly, they had to isolate power to 314 customers from 11.03am, with the majority of supplies restored by 12.26pm.

“The fault has now been traced to a piece of equipment in a substation, which will be repaired, and we would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused.”

As a result of the engineering work, a number of other customers had a brief power cut at around 11am.