MORE than a thousand people were left without electricity in Hampshire on Wednesday after a network fault.

Around 300 homes were out for hours in Wickham, Shedfield, Knowle and Titchfield, affecting 1,431 residents.

Problems started at 8.35am, when a pole-mounted transformer malfunctioned.

Samantha O'Connor, of Southern Electric Power Distribution, said the majority of homes had been reconnected by 3pm, with two final customers due to be restored via mobile generators by 6pm.

She added: "We would like to apologise to those affected by the interruption to the supplies today. This was due to a fault on a piece of our equipment on the overhead network that our engineers are repairing as quickly as possible.”

A welfare vehicle providing food, drink and phone charging was parked near Ashley Manor Nursing in Winchester Road.