Dartford left in the dark

Tuesday 21st July 2009

TWO pre-season friendlies in Dartford and Welling tonight have been postponed due to a power failure that has affected 66,000 homes, writes Stephen McCartney.

Dartford’s pre-season friendly against Welling United at Princes Park, and Erith & Belvedere’s match against Tonbridge Angels at Park View Road, were both postponed this morning over safety grounds.

But both warm-up games have been quickly re-arranged for this coming Thursday, 23rd July (7:45pm).

“We can’t afford to take any risks,” Dartford chairman Dave Skinner told www.kentishfootball.co.uk.

“They (EDF Energy) can’t guarantee it’s going to be on tonight, they’re talking about tomorrow at the moment.”

Engineers are still working to restore electricity to about 66,000 homes on the south-east London/Kent border.

Up to 100,000 properties in Erith, Orpington, Dartford, Bexleyheath and Crayford were left without power after a suspected vandal attack.

A fire on a cable bridge damaged four major electricity circuits on Monday.

EDF Energy worked throughout the night to restore power and set up generators but they anticipate some will be without power until Wednesday morning.

The blaze took hold of a cable bridge over a river in Dartford at 12:45pm.

Locks on the security bridge at both ends of the bridge had been broken.

Four major electricity circuits were left badly damaged.

An EDF Energy spokeswoman told BBC Radio Kent: "We have managed to restore supplies to about a third of customers and will provide temporary supplies to more customers while we continue repairs.

"We continue to work on a full restoration of power supplies.

"However, this is a complex and difficult situation and it is unlikely this will be completed before tomorrow morning."

Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford was also affected by the power cut.

But a spokesman said there was sufficient power to run the whole hospital from a back-up generator.

A spokeswoman for Kent Police said: "Kent Police is working with partner agencies to ensure normal services are restored as quickly as possible and are investigating the circumstances leading up to the power failure."

Meanwhile, neighbouring Blue Square Premier club Ebbsfleet United, insist their game against League One side Leyton Orient, goes ahead at Stonebridge Road tonight (7:45pm) as planned.

“Ours is fine,” said a spokeswoman this lunchtime. “We’ve got no problems at all.

“Dartford’s game has been called off, but ours are still going ahead.”

EDF Energy's emergency helpline number is 0800 028 0247.