Hundreds of homes in the Borden area are suffering power cuts after an electricity sub-station caught alight.

Firefighters and police attended the scene of the incident this afternoon in Coppins Lane at just after 2.30pm.

Officers cordoned-off Wises Lane and Borden Lane and diverted traffic for two hours this afternoon.

Workers from UK Power Networks are currently carrying out emergency repair work on the sub-station.

A spokesman for the company said: “We are working as quickly as possible to restore electricity supplies to 244 customers in the Coppins Lane area of Borden.

“Power was interrupted to 744 customers at 2.36pm today and shortly afterwards we received a report of smoke from a substation.

“Our engineers returned most supplies are continuing to restore power to the remaining properties.

“We appreciate how difficult it can be to lose power and would like to apologise to customers for the inconvenience caused.”

The cause of the blaze is being investigated.