Bleary-eyed commuters who rely on electric alarm clocks woke up late today after a power cut on Canvey.

A fault in a high voltage cable on the island meant that power to 1,800 homes was cut off at around 2.15am.

Electricity was restored via a back-up system to 1,000 homes within an hour and to 572 homes in a further hour. Around 370 homes had power within two-and-a-half hours.

Canvey firefighters were called to the Knightswick Shopping Centre twice after the power cut triggered the alarm system.

Engineers were trying to trace the fault today to repair it, so power could to be switched from the back-up supply back to the main system.

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