CASH tills stopped ringing and Christmas shopping was brought to a halt in St Helens town centre because of a major power failure.

Electricity supplies to 500 Manweb customers, including Central Library, St Helens College and major stores in the town centre, were cut after contractors on the cinema complex building site in Water Street, St Helens, cut through a 11,000 volt cable while digging a trench on Wednesday, December 1.

At least 40 shops in the Church Square Shopping Centre and the 24 shops in the Hardshaw Centre were among the premises affected by the power failure.

A spokesman for Manweb said: "Five hundred customers, including St Helens College and major stores, have been affected by the power failure, which was beyond our control.

"We do apologise to all our customers and we tried to rectify the situation as quickly as possible. Supplies were restored to all customers by 5pm.

"We do apologise to all our customers, but the problem was caused by a third party and it was not something that we could have forseen."

Mike Nirsimloo, manager at Boots in Church Street, said: "We were forced to shut the store when the lights went out at about 11.45am and did not reopen until 1.30pm. This caused a massive disruption in the day's trading, especially at one of the busiest times of the year."

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