Hundreds of homes and businesses were left without power after a cable fault – and a school had to shut.

The outage in Sittingbourne was reported to UK Power Networks at 9am and engineers worked for several hours to make the repairs.

Initially, 3,906 homes and businesses across the town were affected and, at about 10.30am, 318 customers were still without power.

A UK Power Networks spokesman said: "A fault on the electricity network at 9am initially interrupted supplies to 3,906 customers. Most customers had their power restored by 10.29am.

"We understand how difficult it is being without electricity and we are sorry for any inconvenience caused."

The fault was pinpointed to a pole near the junction of Panteny Lane and School Lane in Bapchild.

Sittingbourne firefighters were called at 9.10am to reports the pole was on fire.

"We understand how difficult it is being without electricity and we are sorry for any inconvenience caused," UK Power Networks

Watch manager Neil Ryder said there was no real fire but there was evidence of some of the overhead equipment melting.

Swale council's headquarters had been affected by the outage.

A council spokesman said: "Unfortunately we are currently experiencing a few technical issues following a power cut that is affecting Swale House.

"UK Power Networks is looking into the issue that is affecting properties in Sittingbourne.

"Our phone lines are currently down as a result – we will update you as soon as it is back up and running. We apologise for the inconvenience."

Meanwhile, Meadowfield School in Swanstree Avenue had to close.

A post on its Facebook page at 9.43am said: "We are currently experiencing a power cut, parents are being contacted to collect students. Please come and collect your children as the school will be closing."

UK Power Networks said there was a lot of work required on site after engineers had completed investigations.

It meant some supplies had to be restored by connecting temporary generators and the remaining properties had to be restored by diverting power around the network.

The energy firm was estimating the power would be back on between 4.30pm and 5.30pm. However, a spokesman confirmed all the remaining supplies were restored at 3.20pm.

Read more: All the latest news from Sittingbourne