HOMEOWNERS in Darwen spent more than 12 hours without power following an electricity cut.

A fault developed in an underground cable in the Lightbown Street/Quakerfields/Exchange Street/Stanhope Street area of the town at about 6.20am yesterday.

Emergency engineers from Norweb were working on the fault within an hour, having to cut the power to around 50 homes at about 11am to enable work to start.

It was not until almost 6.30pm before supply was fully restored and a number of residents relied on gas fires to keep warm in the freezing weather.

A spokesman for Norweb said: "We apologise for any inconvenience caused to people living in that area.

"The fault was a complex one and I can assure people that our engineers fixed the fault in the shortest possible time."