A MAN was taken to hospital after a blaze caused by candles he was using to light his home during a power cut.

Dozens of Blackburn homes were left without power in the Temple Drive area of Audley, Blackburn, yesterday after a power cut lasting more than 12 hours.

But the man, who has not been identified but is thought to have been in his 50s, was said by fire officers to have lit a number of tea light candles in his first floor flat, on Temple Drive.

He then fell asleep, and awoke to find his mattress on fire. When he stumbled to the door to escape he then knocked over more candles.

Fire crews in three fire engines from Blackburn and Darwen turned up to fight the blaze.

The man was given oxygen at the scene and then taken to Blackburn Royal Infirmary suffering from the effects of smoke. He was expected to be kept in over night but was not said to be badly hurt.

Residents today spoke of their anger at the power cut, which left elderly neighbours without heating, and freezers full of food quickly defrosting.

The homes, between Temple Drive, Cherry Street and St Clement Street off Audley Range, were said to have plunged into darkness in the early hours of Friday morning, and the power cut was still being repaired into the night.

The power was finally restored overnight and workmen from United Utilities were on the scene for most of yesterday, but nobody from the firm was available to comment to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph this morning about what had happened.

Margaret and Patrick Kennedy, an elderly couple in their eighties of Temple Drive, were huddled for warmth in bed with hot water bottles.

Margaret, 81, a retired textile worker, and Patrick, 85, a retired railway worker, both suffer from ill health.

Margaret said: "Nobody has been to talk to us about it. My sons have been and lent us a torch, and my grandson has been and fetched us pies.

"All the stuff is wasted in the freezer and nobody has come to tell us anything."

According to residents the power cut was first reported to United Utilities at about 5.30am on Friday, and workmen were sent out to work on the problem, marking a spot on the ground with an X, at about 3.30pm.

Isobel Kelly, 24, who works in an old people's home, said: "We woke up and there were houses across the road with electricity but we didn't have it. Fair enough they're trying to find the problem but it shouldn't take that long.

"Why has it take from 5.30am to 3.30pm to start digging? We are okay, we've had somewhere to go but there's an elderly couple sat there by themselves with no heating."