Nearly 4,000 homes in Walsall and Staffordshire hit by power cut

A fault in an underground cable in Burntwood cut off 3,949 customers in parts of Brownhills, Walsall Wood, Burntwood, Cannock, Lichfield just before 8.30am.

Around 3,500 customers had power restored within 10 minutes and the majority of the remaining homes had their supply back within an hour. Residents in Hednesford Road, Brownhills spoke of the problems they faced when the power cut struck.

Carer Kerry Murphy said: "I was very worried when the power went off because my 15-year-old son is severely disabled and all of his equipment is electric.

"We have no back-up if the power cuts out so I was on the phone to the electricity company all morning asking when it would be back on. I think our house was one of the last ones to have its power restored."

Lorraine Adamson was visiting her elderly mother-in-law when the power cut happened.

She said: "My mother in law thought she had done something wrong. She had to boil water on her cooker instead of using the kettle.

"I live in rural France and we have power cuts quite regularly but you don't expect to have them in a built-up area."

David Boland, 71, said: "As a pensioner it didn't affect me as much as it did some of my neighbours. I am surprised it affected so many homes though."

Western Power Distribution spokesman David Satchwell said: "A fault was detected at 8.27am at our main substation in Burntwood.

"Our engineers headed to the site straight away and began restoring power instantly."