20,000 hit by power cut

More than 20,000 homes from Wolverhampton to Kidderminster were without power for up to two-and-a-half hours today after a high-voltage line went down.

The lights went out for 22,996 properties at around 7.50am after a fault between Wombourne and Kingswinford.

Motorists reported traffic lights along the A491 and A449 between Wordsley and Himley were out from the road's junction with Brierley Hill Road and its junction with Himley Road at around 8am.

Central Networks engineers were called in to tackle the problem and power was restored to around half of the affected houses within 15 minutes. However almost 9,000 homes were still without electricity at 9.30am, but power was fully restored by 10.05am.