A major power cut has hit Witney, with householders enduring a number of hours without electricity as engineers deal with the problem.

Homes on residential roads close to Gloucester Place in Witney had their electricity cut off at around 12.15pm on Sunday, April 19.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) announced they were keeping watch over the impacted zone, understood to span six postcodes, and sent a technician to examine what had happened.

A social media update indicated significant power failure on Gloucester Place with an odour of burned plastic in the atmosphere, and said Scottish and Southern Electric were investigating and dispatching someone to the Mill Street station.

SSEN advised that repairs are not expected to finish until 5.30pm this evening, meaning some homes could go without electricity for more than five hours.

A representative for the network operator explained that the disruption stemmed from a problem with the underground cable system. These situations do occur, and engineers are skilled at fixing them. Often, supply can be restored quickly via a simple reactivation or by replacing a fuse at a local substation. When difficulties emerge, mending work may take longer, though teams will persist until full service is safely restored.

Roads in Witney presently affected include Gloucester Street, Puck Lane, the dead-end street Jacobs Close, and parts of Mill Street, with a total of 25 consumers experiencing loss of service.