Thousands of residents were left without power today, and many homes have only got back online this evening.

Homes across 25 postcodes in Maidstone and Malling were affected and more than 500 households across Sittingbourne were also without power until 5.52pm.

UK Power Networks say the power cut was caused by an underground electricity cable fault on the companies high voltage network, causing an area wide power cut.

A spokesman for UK Power Networks said: "Our engineers worked as quickly as possible to restore electricity supplies in the Maidstone area after a fault on an underground cable at 10.11am today.

"The incident initially affected several thousand customers and all supplies in stages by 11.28am. "We apologise to customers for any inconvenience caused."

It was reported that all power in the area was restored at 12.05pm.

This afternoon the power outage spread to Sittingbourne, with 551 households without electricity.

The spokesman for UK Power Networks added: "Engineers are working quickly and safely to restore electricity supplies as soon as possible to 551 customers in the ME9 and ME10 areas of Sittingbourne following a fault on an underground cable at 3.26pm today.

"We apologise for any inconvenience caused."