Major power cut impacting homes, transport in large parts of Britain

[rooster59]

Major power cut impacting homes, transport in large parts of Britain

By Andrew MacAskill

 

Passengers are seen inside a Vauxhall Underground Station during the power cut in central London, Britain, August 9, 2019 in this picture obtained from social media video. EMRE SARIGUL @Turkish_Football1 via REUTERS

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Large parts of Britain were hit by a power cut, affecting trains, knocking out traffic lights and disrupting an airport during rush hour on Friday evening.

 

London, the south east and north west of England and Scotland were impacted, leaving hundreds of thousands of people temporarily without electricity.

 

National Grid, which owns the electricity transmission system in England and Wales, said there had been "issues" with two power generators and the problems have now been resolved.

 

Members of the public posted images on social media, which showed the tube network in the darkness and people having to use their mobile phones as torches.

 

Train services in and out of London, including Thameslink, Southern and Gatwick Express were facing delays and cancellations. National Rail said a large number of train services had been affected.

 

Transport for London said the Victoria line on the city's underground system had been suspended and warned people to take extra care when using the roads because some traffic lights were not working.

 

The electrical grid operator in northeast England reported multiple power failures across the region, which affected the airport and metro system of the region's biggest city, Newcastle.

 

Western Power Distribution which serves the Midlands, South West and Wales said there had been a "major incident" but all affected customers now had power restored.

 

In Cheshire, northwest England, police tweeted that they were aware of a power outage in the Ellesmere Port area.

Some people on social media reacted to the outage with humour.

 

"Was that #powercut someone attempting to fix Britain by turning it off and on again?" Emma Clarke said on Twiter.

 

Another person referencing the possibility that Britain face disruption if it leaves the European Union without a trade deal at the end of October said: "Country having a practice for no deal Brexit #powercut "

 

(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill and Andy Bruce; editing by Stephen Addison)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-08-10

Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking Thailand news and visa info

 

[faraday]

Just gets worse for dear ol' blighty.....????

[emptypockets]

Digital terrorism. Big power stations don't off line easily. Electricity grids can.

[pegman]

So, the E.U.'s fault?

[bluesofa]

When I was last in the UK a few years ago I was staying with a friend and explaining about the frequent power outages in Thailand. I told him I kept track of them, and we had had around forty in just a few years, he couldn't believe it.

He had a UPS to keep his computer running in case of a power outage. He checked the UPS log and told me his last power outage was six years previously, and remembered it that was due to some scheduled cable replacement in his area.

 

[BritManToo]

Wonder if the French will stop selling electricity to the Uk because of Brexit?

 

I can remember the 3 day week (1973) when there were power cuts in the UK every day.

In some ways the pound and UK economy were better then, than they are now.

The western world only seems to get worse.

Edited August 10, 2019 by BritManToo

[HauptmannUK]

16 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

 

I can remember the 3 day week (1973) when there were power cuts in the UK every day.

In some ways the pound and UK economy were better then, than they are now.

Don't be ridiculous. Back then Britain was known as the 'Sick Man of Europe'.  I remember it well and it was a bloody awful time for a lot of families.

[Chomper Higgot]

42 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Wonder if the French will stop selling electricity to the Uk because of Brexit?

 

I can remember the 3 day week (1973) when there were power cuts in the UK every day.

In some ways the pound and UK economy were better then, than they are now.

The western world only seems to get worse.

The power cuts in the 1970s were politically orchestrated, there was as absolutely no need to cut the power.

[NoshowJones]

4 hours ago, HauptmannUK said:

Don't be ridiculous. Back then Britain was known as the 'Sick Man of Europe'.  I remember it well and it was a bloody awful time for a lot of families.

Yes, with the "working persons" Labour government in power, then took the country to bankruptcy three years later, and still the working class kept voting for them, and still do even to this day.

[ThaiBunny]

2 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

Oh! Brexit came early!

Premature Brexit ... ?

[overherebc]

7 hours ago, pegman said:

So, the E.U.'s fault?

Nah. Blame BoJo. ????????

[Justgrazing]

8 hours ago, rooster59 said:

said there had been "issues" with two power generators and the problems have now been resolved

But now they've kissed and made up , sent each other smiley emojis and everyone in Britain lived happily ever after .. 

Edited August 10, 2019 by Justgrazing
Sp

[Rimmer]

Racist troll post removed

[7by7]

UK power cut: Ofgem demands answers over blackout chaos

 

Quote

National Grid said it was caused by issues with two power generators and the problem had been quickly resolved.

But regulator Ofgem said it has asked for an "urgent detailed report" to find out what went wrong and it could take enforcement action, including a fine.

The power outage happened at about 17:00 BST on Friday afternoon, National Grid said, with blackouts across the Midlands, the South East, South West, North West and north east of England, and Wales.

Industry experts said that a gas-fired power station at Little Barford, Bedfordshire, failed at 16.58, followed two minutes later by the Hornsea offshore wind farm disconnecting from the grid.

National Grid said power was restored by 18:30 BST

 

[BritManToo]

7 hours ago, HauptmannUK said:

Don't be ridiculous. Back then Britain was known as the 'Sick Man of Europe'.  I remember it well and it was a bloody awful time for a lot of families.

Funny, because back then I could walk into any industrial light engineering production facility and instantly be offered a job, not to mention a free university education and post grad, fully financed by the government.

I was fully employed from 1972 until 2001 when I retired (age 45), and could pick and choose my employer throughout the entire 30 years.

 

Then between 2001 and 2010, everything changed.

Edited August 10, 2019 by BritManToo

[Basil B]

National Grid lost a power station and a wind farm in short succession, this caused extra load on the grid causing the operating frequency  of 50hz to drop below the minimum 48hz, problem was then bringing other sources online and syncing the speeds and phases before reconnecting,  posible the issue was the the grid got split and syncing them back up would take a lot of time.

[7by7]

39 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Funny, because back then I could walk into any industrial light engineering production facility and instantly be offered a job, not to mention a free university education and post grad, fully financed by the government.

I was fully employed from 1972 until 2001 when I retired (age 45), and could pick and choose my employer throughout the entire 30 years.

 

Then between 2001 and 2010, everything changed.

Well good for you; but your employment experiences were not the norm.

 

(Source)

 

OK, a sharp rise around 2010, following the recession, but since then it's been falling.