A POWER cut that hit 2,200 homes in North Swindon this morning has been blamed on a cable fault.

Households across the SN25 postcode area woke up to find they had no electricity.

The outages also affected traffic lights on major route Thamesdown Drive.

The power cut hit an estimated 2,200 homes in North Swindon, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSE) said. Power was restored by 10:30am.

SSE blamed the problem on a “fault” in the underground cable taking electricity to the area. Repairs were being undertaken – with SSE saying that this work would not hit the electricity supply to people’s homes.

A spokesman for the electricity company said: “We would like to apologise to our customers in the Stratton and Haydon Wick areas who were affected by the power cut.”

Police said they were called to an accident near the Harvester pub on Cricklade Road near the Blunsdon junction at 6.35am.

The crash, which involved a Ford Fiesta and Fiat Doblo van, partially blocked the road. It was cleared by 7.30am.

No one was injured in the accident.