Power Cut Blacks Out Fulham, West Ken and Barons Court

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UK Power Networks apologise for inconvenience but locals see funny side

Large areas of Fulham, West Kensington and Barons Court were left without electricity for more than two hours last night, on one of the coldest evenings of the year.

The effects of the blackout were pictured from above by the Met Police Service helicopter, who asked on their twitter feed @MPSinthe sky: " How'd u make an entire #London borough vanish?#Fulham earlier (the dark bit!)#Fulhampowercut (makes map reading fun!)."

Baron’s Court and West Kensington tube stations were closed and trains passed through without stopping. Traffic lights were also out and police were called to major junctions as long tailbacks built up on local roads.

Engineers from UK Power Networks were alerted at just before 8pm and spent two hours working to restore electricity. They kept people informed of progress on Twitter @UKPowerNetworks and most people had their supply restored around 10pm.

Shortly after midnight they tweeted " All power should now be back on in the #W14 and #SW6 area. Thank you for your patience throughout this evening."

UK Power Networks, who own and maintain electricity lines and cable across London are now investigating the cause of the outage, which has been blamed on a fault in high-voltage underground cables.

Hammersmith and Fulham Council said this morning it was advised by the Met Police at 7.50pm of a major power cut affecting parts of Fulham and West Kensington.

The council says it contacted UK Power Networks immediately - who confirmed the power cut and said engineers have been dispatched to the scene.

A spokesman for the UK Power Networks said: “UK Power Networks would like to apologise to several thousand customers in the Fulham Palace Road area who were affected by a power cut.

" A fault on the high-voltage underground electricity network occurred at 7.48pm. The cause is being investigated but our engineers worked as quickly and as safely as possible on rerouting supplies via other cables. The final supplies were restored at 10.20pm.

" We appreciate how difficult it can be to lose power and apologise for the inconvenience caused by this incident."

If you are still affected or want to report a problem after last night’s power cut, call UK Power Networks on 0800 316 3105.

Despite the inconvenience however, many local people saw the funny side of the power cut, tweeting their responses @FulhamBlackout. Our favourites:

Imran ‏@imranio: " We will tell our grandchildren of the great #fulhamblackout of 2015. We are survivors! With cheese and tea and scented candles we survive!"

gem maxwell ‏@gemwell: " How on earth am I supposed to make my cauliflower-base, sun-blushed tomato and low-co soya cheese pizza now? #fulhamblackout "

 

January 23, 2015

 

 

 

 

Local MP Greg Hands wrote: “Power cut in my part of Fulham. Time to tell the kids all about life in the 1970s and the danger of another Labour government.”

ack Layer said: “Powercut in Fulham. I’m very concerned that the Gressingham duck I bought may defrost. Emergency confit may be needed. “

Ben Wiltshire added: “46 minutes into the Fulham powercut and things are desperate, there’s quinoa all over the floor and no-one can find the maid to clean it up.”

And journalist Guy Adams wrote: “There is a power cut here in Fulham. We are cooking fettuccini by the light of some scented candles.”