MORE than 5,500 homes and businesses in the Dringhouses and Woodthorpe area of York have been hit by a power cut.

Electricity distributors Northern Powergrid said 2,106 customers in YO24 were initially affected at 4.22pm today by the blackout, which was caused by a cable fault.

A spokesman said engineers carried out re-routing work as they sought to find the cause of the problem, and another 3,434 customers lost power as a result at 5.10pm. Most customers got their electricity back by 5.26pm, with the remaining 239 back on by 5.39pm.

He said that if any further cuts were needed to carry out repairs, there would be advance warning.