Little ones at a nursery were left heartbroken after discovering their pet fish had died because the electricity was switched off over a weekend.

UK Power Networks did not restore power when it was lost without warning at Scallywags pre-school in Rainham.

So when staff arrived on the Monday morning about 60 tropical pets were found dead.

Food in the freezer had gone off and had to be thrown away.

The electricity giant, which provides power across the South East, has awarded the school £1,000 as a goodwill gesture.

The chef raised the alarm after arriving at the school in London Road to find it in darkness.

Manager Kelly Mumford said: “Luckily staff get in early so we were able to remove the fish from the three tanks to avoid any distress to the children.

“The older ones noticed so we just had to say they had gone to a new home and we are going to get new ones.

“Having the fish is part of their educational development. It was particularly sad because they were donated by the granddad of one of the children.”

A message was immediately sent out to parents saying they had called for an emergency crew to restore the power.

"We just had to say they had gone to a new home and we are going to get new ones" - Kelly Mumford

They were warned that they had no facilities to cook and no heating.

But the supply was re-instated and hot meals were provided as normal for the 170 children from new-born to pre-school who attend the nursery.

Mrs Mumford: “It’s not about the money. We are just angry that UKPN did not tell us so we could have made plans.

“It’s all very well saying they could not get hold of anyone at the nursery over the weekend but there is a mobile contact on our website.”

Niamh Arnett, press officer for UKPN, said: “We apologise to the staff and children of the Scallywags nursery for the inconvenience and upset caused by a fault on a underground cable that interrupted supplies to the nursery on March 23.

“For safety reasons, supplies could not be restored until access was provided to complete safety checks.

“Our engineers tried to gain access over the weekend and supplies were restored as soon as possible.

“We appreciate how difficult this has been for the nursery and have now resolved the matter directly with them.”