THOUSANDS of customers in the West End area had their power supplies hit early today after a small fire broke out in an electricity sub station.

Hightown firefighters were called to the scene in Cutbush Lane shortly after midnight. The fire spread to bushes and trees outside the sub station compound but it was soon brought under control.

Southern Electric said there was no danger to nearby homes but have launched an investigation into the cause of the fault.

A spokesperson said: "It happened at 12.29 am after a fault at the sub station. Initially this caused supplies to be cut to 3,000 properties.

"Because of the investment we had made in the network power was very quickly restored."

He said that with the remote control technology power was restored to 2,000 customers within the hour by switching them to different parts of the network.

The remainder were restored in stages by bringing in generators and by 9.30 am only three or four customers were without power.