Fury over third Thursday power failure

SEEBOARD customers were without power for up to an hour and 10 minutes when supplies went off at 2.05pm, while 270 subscribers had to wait until 4.50pm for power.

Further disruption was caused when engineers transferred supplies from separate parts of the network. This caused momentary interruption to lights and computers.

Although the interruptions were brief in many cases, the disruption to computers and telephones was ongoing. Some companies lost unsaved files, as did students using computers at Bexhill College.

The Town Hall was once again affected, leaving part of its phone system disrupted.

Catherine Otterwell, of Buxton Drive, was not inconvenienced by computer problems but was frustrated she was without power for the third Thursday in a row. She said: "It is absolutely not good enough. It drives me to distraction. When you have a fridge and freezer full of food that could be ruined and nobody can give you an explanation, something should be done.

"All SEEBOARD could tell me was that the power could be out until 5pm. It is the third Thursday we have had this problem. We need to get to the bottom of what is causing the power cuts."

SEEBOARD said: "A high voltage underground cable fault in Fairmount Road interrupted electricity supplies to about 4,300 customers just after 2pm. All but 270 of these were reconnected in three stages by 3.10pm and the remainder had supplies restored at 4.50pm.

"The flickering reported resulted from SEEBOARD engineers carrying out switching operations to redirect supplies from other parts of the network, in order to start restoring power.

"The roads affected appear to be Springfield Road, Charters Towers, St George's Road, Crowmere Terrace, Lychgates Close, Hastings Road, Langley Close, Barrack Road, Mayo Lane, Ingrams Avenue, Bending Crescent, St John's Road, Norfolk Close, Buxton Drive, Edmonton Road, St Peter's Crescent, Goodwood Close, De La Warr Road, Bancroft Road, Glovers Lane and Cooper Drive.

"SEEBOARD offers its apologies for the inconvenience caused by this incident."

Businesses in Sackville Road, St Leonards Road, Town Hall Square, Bexhill Marina and King Offa Way were also affected.

Honey Barrett Chartered Accountants in St Leonard's Road had the painstaking task of re-doing jobs that were lost when computers shut down momentarily.

A spokesperson from Lloyds TSB said: "We got our computers working again almost straight away but we won't know how much damage has been caused until we balance the tills later today.

"I was on the telephone and got cut off both times the power flickered."

SEEBOARD get a clearer picture of how many customers are affected by a power cut if they are phoned when the cut is first detected. The 24-hour customer service number for reporting a power cut is 0800 783 8866