Mass power outages hit Victoria and Knightsbridge shutting shops and offices

A mass power outage has closed shops and offices across Victoria, Knightsbridge and Kensington.

The blackout hit at around 1.20pm with shops quickly closing their doors and asking lunchtime customers to leave.

Several London Underground stations have been closed as officials deal with a “local power failure”, a TFL spokesperson told LondonlovesBusiness.com.

As of 1.30pm, the list included Victoria, Gloucester Road, Earl’s Court, South Kensington stations. However, Earls Court and South Kensington stations reopened soon after at about 1.40pm.

At around 2.30pm, Victoria Station was opened. Knightsbridge remains closed because of ongoing power shortages.

Underground service is unaffected with trains running through the stations.

Update: #powercut #London #Knightsbridge#Victoria – Engineers have arrived on site to begin investigations & restore power asap.

— UK Power Networks (@UKPowerNetworks) April 17, 2013

A UK Power Networks spokesperson said:

“UK Power Networks has restored power following a fault on our underground electricity network, which interrupted supplies in parts of west London at 1.13pm today.

“Initially about 25,000 customers were affected in the Old Brompton Road and Knightsbridge areas, and the majority had power again within 15minutes. All supplies were restored in stages, with the final properties on by 5.25pm.

“We recognise the impact this has had on our customers today and apologise for the inconvenience caused. Our engineers worked as quickly and as safely as possible to restore supplies.”