THOUSANDS of homes were left without power last night after lightning strikes caused disruption to electricity supplies.

A spokeswoman for Electricity North West said that a number of faults had been reported across the region.

She said: “Lightning strikes are knocking off supplies.

“We had quite a few reports all over the area.

“We were working to get them back on as quickly as we could.

“It’s normally just a case of switching people back on, but if it’s caused a fault on the line that will take longer to repair.”

Jamal Kazi, 44, who owns Union News on Union Street in Oswaldtwistle was among those affected and said: “There were about 1,000 houses without power.

“I normally shut at 7.30pm but I had to close early because of the power cut.

“It was a big problem for me.

“I lost an hour and a half of business, and there was damage to my food.

“I had to throw my ice cream away because it all melted.”