CHIPPENHAM NEWS: A BADGER caused the blackout that left over 60,000 homes without electricity on Wednesday night.

The power cut hit properties in Trowbridge, Melksham, Bradford and Chippenham areas shortly before 7pm.

Southern Electric has blamed the blackout on a small creature, possibly a badger, squeezing into the sub-station at Norrington, near Melksham.

At the height of the power cut 61,500 homes were without power and the police and fire brigade were called out to an unusually large number of house alarms.

Power was restored to the majority of the homes before 8pm and electricity experts have said animals getting into the power stations are extremely rare.

A spokesman for Southern Electric said: "A small creature, which was likely to be a badger, managed to get into the sub-station and short circuited the electricity.

"Certain creatures like badgers can get into gaps other things cannot, but it is very rare for this to happen.

"We serve three-and-a-half million customers and this is the first time I can remember that the electricity has been cut because of a badger."

Shops and garages were forced to close but hospitals kept services open with back-up generators.

But some properties in Hilperton claimed they had been hit by a power cut for the seventh time in a year.

The spokesman said: "These past cuts in areas such as Hilperton are totally unrelated to Wednesday's power cut.

"Because the likelihood of a creature causing the short cut is so rare, at present we have no plans to set up any badger-proof fences."

Police and the fire brigade were also faced with increased call-outs.

A police spokesman said: "We have back up facilities at headquarters, the blackout had some effect but we have contingency plans and were able to function."

Divisional Fire Officer, Les Sharpe, of Melksham headquarters, said: "We were affected in that we received a lot of calls from fire alarms as a result of the power drop and it was a very busy period.

"But we were able to mobilise fire engines as per normal."

Traffic lights in towns across the region were also hit by the power cut, although most were working normally by Thursday morning.