More than a hundred homes, businesses and a level crossing in a Suffolk town have been affected by a power cut, after a fault occurred with a high voltage underground cable.
More than a hundred homes, businesses and a level crossing in a Suffolk town have been affected by a power cut, after a fault occurred with a high voltage underground cable.
Up to 167 customers were affected by the outage in the Victoria Road area of Oulton Broad, Lowestoft, including a restaurant which was forced to close it doors for the evening.
And a level crossing in the area was forced to send staff on to site to safely raise the barrier after the loss of power caused a signalling failure in both directions.
Engineers arrived on site to deal with the power cut just after 7pm, which prompted 22 calls from affected residents in the area.
The power was expected to be back on between 9pm and 10pm tonight (Tuesday, August 27).
And UK Power Networks said coverage was restored at 9.35pm.
UK Power Networks said it became aware of the issue at 5.52pm and the reason for the unplanned power cut was due to "a fault occurring on an underground electricity cable on the high voltage network affecting the local area".
At 5.52pm, the company said: "We're sorry for any disruption this may have caused you.
"We didn't know in advance there would be a power cut, but now that we know, our teams will do everything they can to get your power back quickly. "Engineers in our control room have switched some customers power back on in your area. To get everyone's power back on we may need to attend to investigate and make repairs. We'll continue to update you until everyone's power is back on."
At 6.11pm, it added: "We have engineers on their way. As this is affecting your area, they will not need to attend your property. Rest assured once they arrive, they'll work as quickly as is safely possible to get your power back on."
And an update just after 7pm stated: "Our engineers have arrived on site in the Victoria Road area, the estimated time hasn't changed."
A Network Rail spokesperson said: "We did have a loss of signalling in both directions in the area between Oulton Broad and Lowestoft.
"That was caused by a power outage.
"When the power outage happened the crossing barriers came down so no cars could have gone onto the crossing.
"We sent staff onto the site to open the barriers in a safe manner.
"There are no trains running in either direction and cars are able to pass over as normal at the moment."
They added: "The power company are working on sorting this out within the next hour."
Restaurant The Copper Smokehouse was forced to close its doors due to the outage.
In a statement shared on Facebook, a spokesperson for the barbecue-style eatery said: "Due to a power cut affecting the entire street we will be unable to open tonight to the public.
"We have tried to contact all bookings but have had trouble reaching a few.
"Apologies in advance if we were not able to get hold of you.
"We will back to normal operation for tomorrow lunch from midday.
"Thank you and apologies again for any inconvenience caused."
There were also reports of the level crossing traffic lights flashing on and off with the barrier not coming down.
Network Rail have been contacted for comment.
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