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Electricity generators have been removed following repairs on power fault in Kennington, Ashford

00:00, 31 October 2016

updated: 13:33, 31 October 2016

Electricity generators which were installed to help homes and businesses following a large power cut in Ashford been removed almost a week on from the initial outage following repairs.

A major power cut left more than 3,000 homes around Canterbury Road and Faversham Road in Kennington without electricity last Monday night.

Residents found themselves in complete darkness, some for several hours, following a fault on an underground cable.

A lit candle started the fire. Library image
A lit candle started the fire. Library image

The incident initially affected 3,006 homes shortly after 4pm and the majority of supplies were reconnected just after by 4.30pm. The final 510 supplies were reconnected in the evening using three emergency generators.

Almost a week on from the initial power cut, the generators, described as 'noisy' by residents, were removed over the weekend following repairs.

A spokesman for UK Power Networks said: "These [generators] are sometimes used to restore electricity supplies in the quickest way possible while a fault is located and permanently repaired.

"The generators were removed over the weekend following repairs.

"We thank customers for their understanding while our engineers worked to resolve this as quickly as possible.

"One was removed on Saturday at 3.50pm and in agreement with local businesses two were left in place until 11.30am and 12.40pm Sunday to minimise any inconvenience.

"Our engineers are completing final repairs, but customers’ electricity supplies are back to normal mains supply."

The company confirmed no further works are planned for the area.

One of the generators which was behind the Faversham Road shops in the car park
One of the generators which was behind the Faversham Road shops in the car park

Ted Prangnell, 82, from Canterbury Road described the generator in Farm Lane, Little Burton as 'noisy'. He said: "I heard it in the night and I didn’t realise what it was. I thought it was traffic.”

The power cut also affected several businesses in the area.

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

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

“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 on Faversham Road was one of the businesses affected
The Co Op Food on Faversham Road was one of the businesses affected

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

Power was restored in the premises at around 9.45pm but a spokesperson for the store said that power cut resulted in perishable food being wasted.

A member of staff at Ashford Dry Cleaners on Faversham Road reported that power was lost between 4pm and 4.30pm. Co-op Funeral Care, also on Faversham Road, only experienced light flickers before they closed for the day.

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