More than 1,500 homes and businesses in Strood were in the dark last night (Wednesday) after fault in an underground cable left them without power.

Residents in the Cliffe Road and Rede Court Road areas of the Town were left without electricity for more than half an hour but some were not reconnected for two hours.

A spokesman for UK Power Networks said in total 1,877 of its customers in the area were without power from 9.37pm, but the majority were reconnected within 36 minutes.

The spokesman added: “UK Power Networks engineers restored power to the majority of customers within 36 minutes, with the final 86 properties back on supply at 11.36pm.

“We are sorry for any inconvenience this caused. Our staff worked to reconnect all supplies as swiftly as possible.”