Thousands plunged into darkness

A major power cut left more than 3,000 homes in Ashford without electricity on Monday night, affecting some properties for several hours.

Residents in Kennington found themselves in complete darkness following a fault on an underground cable before three emergency generators were drafted in to help ease the problem. These were still in place as the KE went to press yesterday (Wednesday).

Ted Prangnell, 82, who lives in Canterbury Road said: “We have always kept candles, matches, a camping stove handy, a habit acquired during [the Second World War] in case of emergency and or, a power failure.

“Power cuts were not that uncommon in the 1950s and sometimes in the 60s... but it’s been a long time since we have had a power cut like this.”

Speaking about the generator in Farm Lane, Little Burton, Mr Prangnell said: “It’s quite noisy. I wouldn’t like to be living right next to it.

“I heard it in the night and I didn’t realise what it was. I thought it was traffic.”

George Clark, who lives in Park Vale behind Essentials where he works on Faversham Road, said their power at home flicked on and off for around 20 minutes while they were cooking dinner.

He said: “We just had to sit there and wait.

“We thought it might be a long one. We went to the cupboard to get the candles out!”

The power cut also affected businesses in the area.

Amy Spicer, 18, a waitress at the Conningbrook Hotel at the top of Canterbury Road, was working on Monday evening when the power went off.

Power to the hotel came back quite quickly but nearby residents weren’t as lucky.

She said: “We were really busy on Monday night because our power came back on before everyone elses.

“We had quite a few people in the restaurant having food and just passing the time.

“Our electricity kept going off for a few minutes and back on again every hour from about 4pm.

“Around 6pm our electricity stayed on but half of Kennington all went out until about 11.30pm.

“The fridges had to be checked over and all the ovens had to be turned on.

“It didn’t really cause that many problems for us but I know other residents were out for ages.”

The Co-op Food store in Faversham Road shut at 4.15pm and did not re-open that evening.

A spokesman for the store reported that they had no power, including tills or lights, resulting in perishable food being wasted.

Power was restored in the premises at around 9.45pm.

The store was open again for business at 7am on Tuesday morning, but as a result of the power cut, stock will be low until today (Thursday) when it is replenished after a new order was made following the blackout.

A member of staff at Ashford Dry Cleaners on Faversham Road reported that they lost power between 4pm and 4.30pm, leaving them with no lights or tills but closed as normal.

However, Co-op Funeral Care, also on Faversham Road, only experienced light flickers before they closed for the day.

Did your family or business experience the power cut? Email us kentishexpress@thekmgroup. co.uk or call 01233 623232.

The Co-op, Ashford Dry Cleaners and the Conningbrook Hotel were among the businesses affected by the outage, which was caused by a fault in an underground cable

Generators in Farm Lane, Little Burton, above, and in the car park behind the Faversham Road shops, left, were brought in to help ease the misery for residents in Kennington, as workers battled to power permanently

CANDLES: Ted Prangnell