Thousands of West Bromwich homes hit by power cut

Thousands of homes, businesses and a school in West Bromwich were without electricity today after a power cut.

An underground cable fault plunged 3,325 properties in and around Clarkes Lane into darkness at 6.30am.

Phoenix Collegiate Academy was forced to delay opening its south campus and firms in the area lost a vital morning's trade.

Harjinder Singh Bagri, who runs John's Booze in Clarkes Lane, was called to his shop at 6am by his security company because the alarm was going off.

"I arrived and the alarms were sounding but I couldn't get in because the shutters wouldn't open without any electricity," he said.

"I had to call the shutters man to come and let me in. I couldn't open until 8.45am – I normally open at 8am.

"I have lost a lot of my early morning trade. This is a bad Monday."