Homes left without power for hours after burning electricity poles sparked power outages in Thatcham at weekend

A power cut was caused in Thatcham after electricity poles burst into flames, writes Grace Clift.

Houses in Westfield Crescent were left without power on Sunday afternoon (January 19) after at least two electricity poles went up in flames.

Westfield Road was reportedly shut while emergency services dealt with the incident.

Nobody was hurt, but some residents lost power for more than 10 hours.

“It’s not the first time this electricity post has caught fire,” said Thatcham Neighbourhood Watch coordinator Kath Little.

A statement from SSEN said: “Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) was alerted to a fault on its network supplying 144 homes in Newbury’s Bailey Avenue and Londes Close at 3:05pm on Sunday 19 January.

“Due to the nature of the fault and the subsequent damage to streetlighting, engineers isolated supplies to a further 151 properties in Westfield Road at 4:30pm to enable them to safely repair and restore supplies. These properties were back on supply by 9:15pm.

“Additional checks were carried out before those initially affected by the power cut were restored at 2:33am.

“SSEN apologises for any inconvenience this fault caused and would like to reassure customers that all repairs have been carried out.”

An update by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks on the same night had said power would be restored by 10pm – but it took until 2.45am for some homes to get their electricity supply back.

Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service has been contacted by newburytoday to determine the cause of the incident.