4,000 without power in Whitby after snow fells power lines

Significant areas impacted include the Whitby area in North Yorkshire with 12,000 customers without power, and 4,000 customers affected in Consett, County Durham.

Engineers working around the clock had by 8am restored power to 50% of those properties, a Northern Powergrid spokesman said.

A further 200 incidents of damage, affecting 40,000 or so properties, remain to be repaired.

The engineers are facing difficulties including drifting snow in their attempts to find and repair the damage.

The spokesman said: “All available engineering teams have been deployed and are working hard to restore power to customers as soon as possible.

“Additional teams are also answering customer calls into our contact centre.

“We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused and ask customers for their patience while repair and restoration work is carried out.”

“We have deployed our customer service vehicles to these areas to provide hot drinks and offer support and advice to our customers whilst the repair work is undertaken.”

The company has set up a power cut helpline on 0800 375 675 (Yorkshire customers) and 0800 66 88 77 (Northeast customers) anytime night or day.