Colchester shop boss on latest High Street power cut

Gareth Tansey, 43, is the owner of the footwear and handbag aesthetics business, DGSL, in Red Lion Yard, and was one of four properties affected by yesterday's outage.

The UK Power Networks (UKPN) reported that an “unplanned power cut” occurred at 2.23am.

A team of engineers were dispatched to the High Street to work on the issue.

Business owner - Gareth Tansey (Image: Newsquest)

According to the UKPN website the outage covered the Co1 1 postcode which includes the High Street, Castle Park, Cowdray Avenue and other roads in the area.

However, only four properties on the High Street were affected in the power cut.

It is believed a fault occurred on an underground electricity cable which has affected the area, UKPN may have to dig up the road to carry out repairs.

The organisation also apologised for any “inconvenience caused”.

Works - an image of the UKPN investigating the issue (Image: Gareth Tansey)

Mr Tansey’s business has been impacted though and is not happy.

He said: “We’ve been unable to open and will lose revenue which will affect us.

“It's the third or fourth time it has happened, the last one was in February 29.

“It's frustrating as an independent business and for customers who come in especially to see us and have to travel.

Business - DGSL in Red Lion Yard (Image: Gareth Tansey)

“It’s their time, fuel and parking which will be affected.

“We will not be compensated unless the outage for more than twelve hours.

“We would all like issues just to be fixed and not feel like ‘it's happened again’."

Ward councillor Richard Kirkby-Taylor has reacted to the outage and believes as long as public services are privatised, then there will always be problems like this, under investment and underfunding do not help either.

Signage - a poster placed on the shopfront of DGSL (Image: Gareth Tansey)

He said: “The only way we are going to be able to prevent outages like this is by adequality investing in infrastructure, and the only way that can be guaranteed is with publicly owned services.

“This situation is actively damaging local businesses; I hope they get it resolved soon.

“My sympathies are with the businesses affected in the outage, and I hope their insurances cover it.”

Fellow ward councillor for the area, Councillor Mark Goacher said: “Obviously, the High Street it is a major retail area.

“I hope it is investigated and whatever the long-term causes of it are, are put right.”

A spokesman for UKPN has said: "We apologise to four customers in Colchester High Street for the recent interruptions to their power supply.

"The interruptions have been caused by an intermittent fault on the underground network which has proved difficult to trace.

"Engineers installed equipment to help narrow down the fault and restore power supplies as quickly as possible.

"All supplies were restored at 12.21pm and further investigations are underway to carry out repairs."