Published: Thursday, 30th October, 2008 12:56pm

Power surge sparks chaos in quiet close

by Rose Harland

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Terrifying: Richborough Close in Lower Earley, where a mystery power surge started fires
Pic by: Rose Harland

A MYSTERY power surge brought breakfast time chaos and left a trail of small fires, electric shocks and blown fuses in a quiet close.

Smoke and sparks began emerging from microwaves, computers and televisions and a tap became electrified as neighbours in 11 homes in Richborough Close, Lower Earley, started to dial 999.

It was a repeat of an incident in nearby Carshalton Way nearly six months ago and Southern Electric is trying to find whether there is a problem with its cabling in the area.

Philip Maynard, 38, was at home with his wife Yinghui, 36, and their daughters aged four and two months, when the problems started at 7.30am.

He said: "I was in the room with the computer when it started. There was smoke just billowing out of it, I just pulled the plug out of the wall.

"It was a bit worrying, I didn't know what was going on. I turned everything off at the mains and got everyone outside. I think the main thing is it wasn't three in the morning."

Fire crews from Whitley Wood and Wokingham Road were joined at the scene by engineers from Southern Electric on Tuesday.

Power was turned off and the 11 homes were without heat for most of the day. Another 70 homes nearby also lost power for three hours while engineers carried out repairs.

Leon Pawl, 59, a swimming pool engineer who has lived in Richborough Close for 27 years, realised there was a problem when he tried to use the shower. He said: "As I touched the tap I could feel electricity through it. It was like a static shock but worse. I used the flannel to turn it off."

Southern Electric's contractors Haste have been taking away microwaves, computers, TVs and other appliances to repair or replace them over the last few days.

Frank Ainsworth, 69, said: "There have been quite a few power failures before, but nothing like this in the close. We think the cable should be replaced."

Southern Electric spokeswoman Morven Smith said there is no direct link to the incident in Carshalton Way in May because the roads are on separate networks.

But she added: "It could potentially be that they both use the same type of cable. It is in the very early stages, but there may be a project to replace the cables. The engineers will be investigating the cable but our main priority is to make sure that our customers are okay. The Richborough Close problems were the result of a unique set of circumstances.

"It was caused by the fact not only that had the cable insulation broken down, but that factor was combined with the cable's location on the network and that part of the cable had broken down. It caused a fluctuation in voltage outside the usual voltage range."

Ms Smith said: "We understand that it would have been quite frightening for the residents and we apologise. We've pulled out all the stops to try and get the problem sorted."

Neighbours praised Southern Electric's prompt response and Mr Ainsworth said: "We can't fault them. They've really put themselves out to try and rectify the problem."