AN ELECTRICAL fault caused parts of Newport to be plunged in to darkness this evening.

A Western Power manager said 708 customers were without power after an 1100 volt circuit breaker tripped at around 4.45pm.

Maesglas Fish Bar was one of the businesses affected with workers forced to wait outside for the power to come back on after the cut meant security systems failed.
Sue Anne Williams of Maesglas Fish Bar said: “There have been power cuts before but that was during the day. Last time we had a gas griddle- but we're stuffed now."
Street lights and traffic lights were also out, resulting in complete darkness in Maesglas.

Edge Cleaning Equipment Specialists was also affected and managing director Arran Terence Hill was left waiting outside the business after cuts meant that all the alarms needed to be reset.
He said that the cuts meant clients were unable to contact the 24/7 business as the phones were out.
Meanwhile, a man was left stranded at the cash point next to the Maesglas Spar store after his card was swallowed by the cash machine just as the power went out.
Barrie Thomas, of Maesglas, had selected the amount of money he wished to withdraw but when the power went out, he was left waiting by the machine which swallowed both his card and cash.
Western Power said 98 per cent of homes and businesses affected had power back before 5.45pm, while 13 residential power supplies are still off.

Eight Western Power engineers and control staff are in Maesglas trying to restore the remaining supplies.