Blackouts swept through 13,000 Ashford homes last night.

The power cuts, which lasted between around 8pm and 11.30pm, also knocked out traffic lights on the town's ring road.

Energy firm EDF said it believed the problem was caused by a fault with underground cabling at the town's main substation.

A spokesman said: "Customers were switched onto a different network and most had their power back on very quickly."

Stanhope resident Mark Smith said: "My two-year-old was in his room scared stiff, and it was fun and games getting up and down two flights of stairs. I shone my headlights into my kitchen as I searched for candles, lit them, then the power came on."