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As it happenedended1565390481

UK power cuts - live updates: Nearly one million people affected by major outages across country with trains, airports and traffic lights impacted

Conrad Duncan
Friday 09 August 2019 18:11 BST
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Power cuts london and south east hit by massive national grid failure as traffic lights go down

The UK was hit by a massive power cut on Friday, as traffic lights were knocked out, trains came to a standstill and aircraft were grounded during rush hour.

Large parts of the country were without electricity following the power cut, utility suppliers said, with outages reported in the North West, South West, the Midlands and Wales.

The UK Power Networks tweeted on Friday evening: "We're aware of a power cut affecting large parts of London and South East.

"We believe this is due to a failure on National Grid's network, which is affecting our customers."

Train services in and out of London, including Thameslink, Southern and Gatwick Express saw delays and cancellations on Friday evening.

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Traffic lights in the capital were also experiencing some problems and the Victoria Line on the London Underground was suspended, Transport for London said.

They tweeted on Friday evening warning people to be cautious when using the roads.

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A spokesperson for Northern Powergrid has said 110,000 of its customers lost power.

They said the problem was with the National Grid's transmission network, which distributes high voltage energy from power stations across the UK.

Those affected lost power between around 5.10pm and 6pm.

The power cuts were "quite spread apart, (which is) quite unusual", the spokesperson said.

Additional reporting by PA

Jon di Paolo9 August 2019 18:40
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The National Grid Electricity System Operator has said the power issue is "resolved". 

Jon di Paolo9 August 2019 18:43
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The Department of Transport has released a statement on today's power cuts.

Jon di Paolo9 August 2019 18:47
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Transport for London are still working on bringing all traffic signals back online after a “low number” were affected by the power outage.

Jon di Paolo9 August 2019 18:51
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About 300,000 UK Power Networks customers were hit by the cut, a spokesperson has said.

The supplier, which covers London, the South East and the East of England, said it was first alerted to the issue at 4.53pm.

Power was restored to all customers by 5.21pm, according to the spokesperson.

Jon di Paolo9 August 2019 19:01
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About 500,000 people were affected in the Western Power Distribution area with power restored shortly after 6pm, according to the company.

The Western Power Distribution area covers the South West, South Wales, and the Midlands.

Jon di Paolo9 August 2019 19:05
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London Kings Cross Station has been closed to avoid any overcrowding, National Rail has said.

Jon di Paolo9 August 2019 19:09
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Here are a couple of updates for anyone on Great Northern Rail or Thameslink trains.

Jon di Paolo9 August 2019 19:14
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Due to the “severity of the disruption this evening”, National Rail has said there will be some disruption to services tomorrow.

More information on those disruptions will be posted as soon as possible.

Jon di Paolo9 August 2019 19:24
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Some good news and some bad news....

Good news: Transport for London has announced that all traffic signals have been restored in the capital.

Bad news: Major disruption to and from London Kings Cross, St Pancras and across the Great Northern and Thameslink networks is expected to continue until the end of the day.

Jon di Paolo9 August 2019 19:35

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