Hampshire: Thousands of homes left in darkness by power cut

Thousands of homes in Hampshire were left in darkness after a power cut.

About 16,000 addresses in North Baddesley, Wellow and parts of Romsey were among those affected, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) said.

Reports were logged shortly before 08:00 GMT and postcodes in SO51, SO52 and SO16 were shown as having problems.

SSEN said it was working to find the cause - but that most customers had power restored within an hour.

In a statement issued shortly after 09:00, a spokesperson apologised to customers and said it anticipated the 800 remaining homes affected should have had their power restored by midday.

The Mountbatten School in Romsey said it had made the decision to close for the day due to the issues.

In a letter to parents, head teacher Andrew Portas said: "Whilst the loss of power in itself would not usually be an issue, the school water supply and sewage disposal rely on electrically powered pumps.

"This means that the students would not be able to use the toilets and the school would not have access to fresh water."

Follow BBC South on Facebook, X, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].