EIGHTEEN properties in Blackburn town centre are being affected by power cuts due to a faulty underground cable.

The electricity fault in Darwen Street is causing problems for pubs and takeaways and has led to temporary closures of businesses, including The Postal Order.

It was forced to shut for periods during Tuesday night after it lost power because of the ‘on and off’ power cuts.

Jaime Griffths Van Tonder, manager at the pub, said they were affecting the building in phases, cutting power to toilet lights, the main bar and sometimes equipment like tills.

She said: “It’s a transient fault, according to Electricity North West.

"They are sending out an engineer to see to it, but this is the eighth or ninth time since Thursday last week that this has happened to us.

“Obviously, we have to put the safety of customers and staff first.

"With the toilets upstairs if we haven’t got any lighting up there we have to close.

“We had some staff in from takeaways and local businesses as well with the same problems.

“We can only do so much, even though it’s very frustrating.”

Because of the way electricity is supplied to some businesses, they can find different areas in a building are affected at different times.

Electricity North West admitted that it did not know what was causing the problem and had to pinpoint the fault before digging up roads and pavements in Darwen Street to access the line.

Mark Williamson, Electricity North West services manager, said: “I understand that this fault must be extremely frustrating for residents and businesses, and I apologise for it.

“We need to be sure of exactly where the fault is before we can unearth it and make a repair.

“We are doing everything that we can to minimise the effects of this fault and to locate it.”

The provider said the problems were not thought to be related to an underground electricity fire near the Pizza Planet restaurant in Darwen Street last month, when several businesses in Darwen Street, St Peter Street, Mill Lane and Mincing Lane lost power.