Major power cut hits thousands across Black Country

Wolverhampton train station was in darkness, platforms were evacuated and trains halted, while traffic lights and street lamps across the city went out.

The Midland Metro was also suspended between Wolverhampton St George's and Priestfield due to signalling problems caused by the power cut.

Meanwhile, another power cut forced Tettenhall Library to close yesterday afternoon and left around 88 properties without power.

Problems began today at around 6am and were caused by a power failure at a substation in Willenhall. Experts were this afternoon still investigating the cause.

It had a knock-on effect for people travelling to work and even forced Willenhall schools Barcroft Primary, Fibbersley Park and St Thomas More to close due to heating problems.

Emergency lamps were lit at Wolverhampton railway station after trains stopped running at around 7am and did not start again until power was returned at around 8.05am. Some trains were cancelled and Virgin Trains warned commuters faced delays of at least 45 minutes.

Services to London Euston and Manchester Piccadilly were among those cancelled. When the power supply returned, most trains were delayed by between 20 and 30 minutes.

IT developer Chris Bishop, 26 of Sedgley, was struggling to get to work in Telford and was left calling friends to see if they could give him a lift.

He said: "It's a nightmare. There are no other routes to Telford really and it takes a long time on the bus so I'm stuck."

Kae Bloor, 26, was trying to reach his job as a salesman at Interlink in Smethwick.

"One of my friends got here earlier on and said there were no trains so I've been trying to work out what I can do now, but I will probably be late," he said.

Newsagents were also hit by the power cut as they organised papers for delivery. The owners of Virk Cut Price Store in Lichfield Street lost electricity for about 15 minutes from 7am.

Owner Nirmal Gill, 59, said: "We had to find a torch and try to keep working inside, but we had to put a sign in the door saying we were closed because of a power cut. I was very relieved that it wasn't off for longer.

"Customers have been telling me it has caused a lot of problems for people getting to work."