Thousands of people were left without power on Wednesday after a fault in an underground cable.

The power went out for nearly 6,000 people in the Luton Road area of Chatham shortly after 6.40pm when a fault occurred on a high-voltage underground cable.

Engineers from UK Power Networks restored power to 2,500 customers within four minutes. Electricity was gradually restored to the rest until the final customers were able to switch their lights back on just after 8pm.

A spokesman from UK Power Networks apologised to customers who lost power.

“We appreciate how difficult it can be to lose power, especially when it is cold and dark, and hope our customers understand that our engineers worked as quickly and as safely as possible to ensure they had power again,” he added.