A PREGNANT young mum fears she may have to spend Christmas in her car after an electricity fault left her freezing in the dark.

Lucy Clarke, of Mercer Street, Great Harwood, is one of several residents continually finding themselves without power because of a fault in the area's underground cables.

United Utilities has pledged to fix the problem but said it could be days before its engineers can locate the problem.

Following the latest black-out at her home on Friday, Lucy had to seek refuge in her car in order to keep her two-year-old son warm.

The 26-year-old, who is eight months pregnant, said: "We have problems with the electricity supply ever since I moved in two months ago. The whole street is regularly affected.

"We have a power cut every other day. Sometimes it is just for a few minutes and other times it can be for hours on end."

Lucy spent over two hours in her car with Dylan and her mum Bridget, who lives nearby and was also affected by the power cut and fears the problem could return when temperatures fall below freezing in the run up to Christmas.

Lucy explained: "When it started to get dark we decided to go and sit in the car because the street lamps offered more lighting and we could put the heater on to keep warm. When the electricity went off, so did the combi boiler so we were very cold. In the past we have just gone to bed early because it is the only way we can get warm."

Lucy added: "If this happens on Christmas the day will be ruined. We won't be able to cook Christmas dinner or have the tree lights on."

Neighbour Terence Owen said the problem of the power cuts had been going on for at least a year. His home was plunged into darkness on Sunday. The plasterer had to light his home with candles, but was more angry that his television wasn't working.

He said: "I have got used to the black-outs now but I had really been looking forward to watching the West Ham-Man United match."

A spokesman for United Utilities, responsible for the power supply, said: "The problem is a transient fault that is in the process of developing. When a fault is fully developed it is easy for us to locate, dig down and replace the damaged cable.

"A transient fault is a cable that is only slightly damaged and the heat passing through it can temporarily fix it. This makes it difficult to locate - it would mean digging up the entire cable in the affected streets."

He added: "We cannot fix the fault until it develops fully and apologise to residents because this is obviously frustrating for them. "