A faulty underground cable caused the huge power cut in Royston at the weekend.

The incident started Saturday morning and meant that supermarkets had to close and households were left without power. Further outages have also been reported since Saturday.

A spokeswoman for UK Power Networks told the Crow: "Power was interrupted to 8,558 customers in Royston at 9.41am on Saturday due to a high voltage underground cable fault.

"UK Power Networks engineers worked quickly and safely to restore power to almost 2,000 customers before 10am with the majority of customers restored in stages by 1.30pm. 164 were restored before 3pm and the final customers by 5pm.

"We understand how difficult it is being without electricity and we apologise for any inconvenience caused."

Bob Hayzen, who lives in the town, has praised the way the outage was handled.

He told the Crow: "At a time when we hear so much criticism of public services, I wanted to pay special tribute to the way in which the power cut was handled.

"I received regular updates and information as to what was happening. Offers of practical assistance and heating of meals and hot water from their mobile vehicle were sent.

"Mobile generators were set up and the situation was restored within a few hours for most people. All this was done in very poor weather conditions. I then received a request for my feedback on how the situation had been handled.

"All this was a reminder of just how lucky we are to live in a country, that although far from perfect, is able to deliver such wonderful service.

"Congratulations and thanks to UK Power and the team of people who resolved the problem so efficiently."

Did you experience community kindness during the power cut? Let us know what happened at news@royston-crow.co.uk.