More than 80 homes in Cressex were left without power last night after a fault with an electricity cable caused a manhole cover to “explode”.

Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) have apologised to residents in Lansdowne Way after the fault left multiple families without electricity from 7.45pm yesterday until 2am today.

Firefighters were also called to the road at 7.35pm after neighbours reported seeing a fire coming from the manhole cover, following an ‘explosion’.

A crew from Marlow attended the scene, but said the fire was out on arrival.

Today, SSE have said that safety remains their number one priority and assured residents from the 84 affected houses that engineers worked through the night to get power back on as quickly as possible.

Media communications manager, Emily MacDonald, said: “At 7.45pm on Tuesday a fault in an underground electricity cable caused a manhole cover to be displaced in Lansdowne Way.

“The fault also resulted in a power cut which affected 84 properties. The fault did not cause a fire, and the fire service attended as a precautionary measure.

“Engineers from Southern Electric Power Distribution replaced the faulty cable and had power restored to all customers by 2.10am.

“We’d like to apologise to affected customers for the inconvenience and would like to reassure them that safety is our company’s number one priority and that our engineers worked late into the night to restore their power as quickly and safely as possible.”

Were you affected by the power cut? Tell the Bucks Free Press by calling 07824 530126.