Power cut hits thousands of homes

Thousands of homes in Oxfordshire were without power on Monday when suppliers were hit by two separate faults.

Twenty-two thousand homes and businesses around Banbury were left without electricity when a transformer "tripped" at the local sub-station.

While power was restored to them at 1120 BST, 1,914 customers remained powerless after a major cable fault.

Engineers were sent out to discover the cause of the problem in Henneff Way during Monday lunchtime.

The problem first occurred at 1015 BST after a third party cut through the high voltage cable, said a spokeswoman for electricity firm Aquila.

Forty-five minutes later the sub-station experienced problems affecting customers in Banbury and the villages of Cropredy, Claydon and Mollington.

Power was finally restored at about 1255 BST.