A POWER cut left thousands of homes across South Essex without electricity this afternoon.

Businesses and homes were affected in Brentwood, Ingatestone and Billericay and the failure caused problems from Upminster to Lakeside.

It’s believed to have been caused by a grass fire in Upminster shortly after 4pm.

London Fire Brigade said: “Another grass fire on Hacton Lane in Upminster has caused a local power cut. We're working with UK Power Networks.”

Traffic lights were also affected by the power cut and Greater Anglia trains faced five minute delays as a result of the power failure.

UK Power Networks says it will investigate the incident.

A spokesman for UK Power Networks said: "Following reports of damage to some of our equipment we received reports of power cuts affecting several areas in Essex at 4.15pm today and restored most by 4.47pm.

"There was a further interruption at about 5.05pm and all supplies were restored again by 5.18pm.

"We are sorry for the inconvenience and would like to thank customers for their understanding while we resolved the problem. We will continue to investigate the cause."

 

Another grass fire on HactonLane in #Upminster has caused a local power cut. We're working with @UKPowerNetworks pic.twitter.com/xtfMjC4Igk

— London Fire Brigade (@LondonFire) July 21, 2015 

 

#Powercut #Romford #SouthOckendon Engineers investigating cause of problem confirm power is now back on. Apologies to all affected. PlsRT

— UK Power Networks (@UKPowerNetworks) July 21, 2015