Power cut hits stores
Birmingham city centre was thrown into chaos as thousands of homes, shops and bars were left without power on one of the busiest days of the year following a fire at an electricity sub-station today.Birmingham city centre was thrown into chaos as thousands of homes, shops and bars were left without power on one of the busiest days of the year following a fire at an electricity sub-station today. Shops were left without power to operate tills. The Mailbox was the worst hit but the Bullring and other city centre stores were not affected. Traffic lights were also knocked out. The fire started at a substation in Sheepcote Street, off Broad Street, in the early hours. Read the full story in the Express & Star
Birmingham city centre was thrown into chaos as thousands of homes, shops and bars were left without power on one of the busiest days of the year following a fire at an electricity sub-station today.
Shops were left without power to operate tills. The Mailbox was the worst hit but the Bullring and other city centre stores were not affected.
Traffic lights were also knocked out.
The fire started at a substation in Sheepcote Street, off Broad Street, in the early hours.
The power went out at 2am and was expected to be off at many properties for a "considerable amount of time." Central Networks said 8,500 properties were without power in central Birmingham this morning.
By 10am, 1,100 properties, mainly in the Brindleyplace area, were still without power.
Central Networks spokesman Jonathan Smith said engineers switched off power to customers linked to the sub-station for safety reasons.
BBC WM presenter Les Ross was on air late this morning as a result of the power cut. Early-morning listeners woke to hear Radio Five being transmitted instead until the local radio link could be restored.