A HATCH End resident, plunged into darkness by a series of power cuts, has urged his electricity company to see the light and fix the problem.

Ernest Parkin, of Hillview Road, suffered blackouts totalling 17 hours on Tuesday and Wednesday last week, and is furious with EDF, his provider.

He said: "It was horrible. I was stumbling around the house, hoping to find some candles. I expected the power to come back on but had to wait what seemed like an eternity. On Wednesday, I was cut off for 14 hours.

"It drove me out of the house, but when I went to the restaurant nearby they were having similar problems."

Faulty cables deprived scores of homes and businesses of power along Hillview Road, Grimsdyke Road and Uxbridge Road.

However, an angry Mr Parkin blasted EDF for seeking a "quick fix solution" that put profit margins ahead of customers.

He said: "This is not an isolated occurrence. It has been going on for more than a year and EDF just patch up the existing cables.

It's a quick fix solution to shut us up until the next time it happens.

"I have told them it's time they put a new cable in. The cables along my road are over 70 years old so unless they are replaced, things will simply get worse."

A spokesman for EDF said: "We would like to apologise to customers for recent interruptions to their power supplies. These have been caused by two intermittent faults on a low voltage underground cable which have proved difficult to locate.

"Engineers are conducting further tests to pinpoint the fault and will carry out permanent repairs as quickly as possible. We will also undertake an investigation of the network to assess whether further work is necessary.

"EDF Energy is sorry for any inconvenience. Our customer relations department will write to affected customers within the next few days."