TWENTY thousand homes, businesses and schools in East Lancashire were thrown in to chaos yesterday when they were left without power for part of the morning.

Two thirds of Pendle had their electricity back on by lunch time but some parts of Colne and the outskirts of Nelson were left without supplies until 2pm.

A spokesman for United Utilities said there had been a high voltage fault in the area and they were looking in to what caused the black out.

The power cut hit Brierfield, Barrowford, Nelson and Colne at about 10am yesterday.

It set alarms off across the borough, food shops were left without cooking facilities in the run-up to lunchtime and banks and offices were disrupted when their computer systems failed.

Traffic lights on the main road between Nelson and Colne also broke down, which led to slow moving traffic through Colne town centre.

But a spokesman for Lancashire Constabulary said there had been no major problems due to the power cut.

Most of the larger companies in the area, as well as Pendle Community Hospital in Nelson, were unaffected as they had back-up generators, but schools and shops had to make alternative arrangements.

Children at Colne Primet Primary School swapped their hot lunches for sandwiches. Headteacher Anne Clements, said: "The main switchboard phone was out of order but in a crisis people tend to rally round. We actually had a lovely atmosphere. The caretaker and teachers who weren't teaching were putting the dinner tables out because the dinner ladies were having to make sandwiches because they couldn't cook.

"The only problem was the computers, because when they come back on they all need re-booting. It could have been worse if it had been in the middle of a cold winter."

Youngsters at the Happy Faces Childminding Support Group, in Nelson, had an unusual first day back after the summer holidays.

A musical event to mark its re-opening, in St Philip's Family Centre, ended up being by torchlight when it was plunged in to darkness half an hour in to the event.

Staff at Hairforce of Barrowford, in Gisburn Road, were forced to cancel some appointments.

Owner Karen Paley-Smyth said: "Friday is blow dry day so we had to phone people and put them off because we had no water or hairdryers. Luckily it happened at a change over time in customers but one lady had to leave with wet hair and another in rollers." Customers wanting to get money from Lloyds TSB in Nelson found themselves penniless for a while longer when it had to shut for security reasons.

A member of staff said: "We were closed for about two hours because of the security risk, plus we didn't have any computers so we wouldn't have been able to identify anyone.

"The ATM machines were not working, we couldn't hear customers because the microphones were off and the security doors didn't work so we couldn't go through them."

A spokesman for Pendle Council said: "Obviously we were affected by the power cut which shut all our computers down. Elliot House, the collection office for council tax and business rates, was closed for two and a half hours because there was not enough natural light to take cash payments.

"Our cash and inquiries office in Colne remained open, but we would like to apologise to anyone who made the journey to Elliot House. Most people seemed to realise it was closed for security reasons and accepted it."