THOUSANDS of homes and businesses were plunged into darkness when a bolt of lightning caused a power cut in Rainham.

The storm damaged a 33,000 volt overhead power line, affecting supplies to the town for more than three hours on Saturday.

Restaurants and pubs were among the premises affected by the cut which happened at around 7pm.

The Cricketers pub had more than 100 customers when the power supply failed.

Manager Bernadette O'Leary said: "We could not see anything and could not serve anyone from the pumps. We could have carried on selling bottled beer but in the interests of safety we had to shut the pub.

"We probably lost about £4,000 in all."

The Manor Farm in the High Street was also affected. The Beefeater restaurant has only just reopened after a £420,000 refurbishment and the venue was fully booked.

Manager Noelle Jones said: "I couldn't believe it when the power went off. We had candles on all the tables and emergency lighting so diners could finish the dish they were eating.

"Obviously we could not continue serving so we had no choice but to close the bar and restaurant and to send all of our customers home."

Some diners were not able to finish their meals and were not asked to pay for them. As a goodwill gesture the restaurant offered them a 50 per cent discount voucher so they could come back to the restaurant another time.

Other diners who had booked for later tables also had to be turned away.

Noelle added: "Luckily our guests understood that there was nothing we could do and we will do everything we can to make sure that on their return visit everyone enjoys our new menu and has a great time."

A resident of Harvey Road said: "It totally ruined my weekend. We were in total darkness for hours."

Engineers from Seeboard switched supplies by alternative routes in order to reconnect all 10,000 customers by 10.20pm the same evening.

A spokesman for the company said: "Linesmen patrolling the network found the damaged overhead line just outside Sittingbourne.

"This was repaired on Sunday. Seeboard would like to offer its apologies for the inconvenience caused by this incident."