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Power outage plunges Manchester into darkness

01/11/2007

Large parts of Greater Manchester were plunged into darkness last night as a huge power outage severed electricity supplies to 86,000 households.

Central Manchester, Salford, Swinton, Bury, Leigh and Cheetham Hill and Bolton's Reebok Stadium lost power for a period of between 30 and 90 minutes. Traffic lights and street lamps were also affected by the power cut.

According to United Utilities, power was restored to all homes and businesses shortly after 21:00 GMT.

One Swinton resident said: "It was pitch black. Rows of streets were without power and people were getting into their cars and driving away to escape the darkness."

Last night's massive power cut came hours after hundreds of homes in Miles Platting were left without power following an arson attack on an electricity sub station.

And in August 2005, 250,000 homes were without electricity when lightening struck a sub station in Stalybridge, affecting Tameside, Droylsden, Manchester city centre and Macclesfield.