Neighbours blow fuse over power

MORE than 100 householders in Clarksfield have faced blackout misery after their homes lost power several times over six days.

The lights went out for the residents of the Glenfield Estate late on Friday.

And since then they say the power was on and off continually before the problem was finally repaired yesterday morning.

Councillor Roger Hindle, who lives in Glaisdale, said: “The power has been on and off, mainly late and night and in the morning. There are days when I had to go to work with just a cold wash and the mornings have been really freezing recently.

“It’s a worry for older people in the area, who are vulnerable and might not be able to get out of the house to buy their food if their electric cooker won’t work.

“I would definitely appeal to anyone who has elderly neighbours to knock on their door and check that they are okay.”

Joan Platt (67), who lives in Wheeldale, said that the problem goes much deeper, with intermittent black-outs stretching back as far as the summer.

“We first lost power in August and it’s happened four or five times since then.

“At first it was funny, but it’s getting to be a real pain. Whatever the problem is, it's been going on long enough.

“My husband and I have had to go to bed early because the electricity has been going off at about 9.30pm, and then it will briefly return around 2am, causing alarms and security lights to come on and wake everybody up.

“It’s been going off at all times of day and the longest period we’ve been without power is about nine hours.

“Not everyone has a gas cooker and it’s been like the war, taking flasks of tea over to people.

“It’s also very dangerous for older people who might be moving around in the house at night when the lights suddenly go off.

“We’ve phoned United Utilities countless times, but we just keep getting fobbed off, with them telling us it’s a cable fault.

“Whatever the problem is, it’s been going on long enough.”

Helen Wilson of United Utilities said: “We recognise how frustrating these power cuts have been, and it has been equally frustrating for our engineers.

“The cuts have been because of an unusual type of problem on the electricity network.

“Normally a fault will occur instantly, but occasionally, as in this case, it can develop slowly.

“This means there are intermittent interruptions to power supplies and it is very difficult for the faulty section of cable to be located until the fault develops fully.

“In the meantime, our engineers do what they can to restore supplies quickly, by replacing fuses at the substation.

“We were able to locate the fault on the underground cable on Tuesday and carried out the repairs yesterday.

“We thank residents for their patience over the last few months.”




United Utilities confirmed that all customers were restored at 11.30am yesterday morning, except for the four properties immediately next to the repair work, which were expected to be repaired later in the day.