THOUSANDS of Biddulph families lost their electricity on Sunday morning after a major supply network went down.

Some nine thousand homes from the town and Leek were affected by the power failure, losing their supplies for between two and three hours.

The loss of supplies was caused by a cable fault near a sub-station, and most of the homes affected were in the Knypersley area.

"We restored supplies to six thousand of the homes affected by midday, and the rest were back on by 1.15pm,'' said MEB press officer Caroline Whittle.

"The loss of power affected a major 33,000 volt circuit, and was caused by an underground cable fault near a sub-station in Leek.

"We aim to get supplies back on within three hours, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused to our customers.''

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