COMMUTERS in Petts Wood were last night forced to make alternative travel arrangements after a power cut closed the train station - for the second time in four months.

EDF Energy Network, which supplies electricity in the area, was unable to confirm that the power cut had anything to do with the storms that hit much of the country yesterday.

They said that work would be scheduled to try and ensure the problem does not happen again.

Services in and out of Petts Wood were cancelled at around 5.30pm yesterday.

Other stations on the same line, such as Orpington and Chislehurst, were open as normal.

Shops in Station Square were also without electricity.

On November 30 last year, another power cut closed Petts Wood train station, which also happened during a spell of bad weather.

Last night commuters had to take a replacement bus service to Orpington train station in order to catch a train.

Petts Wood and Knoll Councillor Simon Fawthrop says the problem is a recurrent one and needs to be sorted out.

He said: "From time to time in this area power cuts do occur.

"Given the history, EDF needs to get it sorted.

"It's not as if they are not aware of the problem.

"This is not the first time it has happened."

Chris Harris of the Petts Wood and District Residents' Association, who deals with transport issues, said: "This is not an acceptable state of affairs.

"EDF said after the power cut at Christmas that some work had been done to improve and stabilise power supplies in the square."

An EDF spokesman said: "EDF Energy Networks would like to apologise to customers for the recent power interruptions in the Station Road area of Petts Wood.

"A fault on an underground cable interrupted supplies to up to 18 customers in this area at about 9.36am on Monday (March 10).

"Our staff worked throughout the night to restore power supplies to everyone as swiftly and safely as possible at 8.30am today.

"Our staff are excavating the fault and may need to isolate supplies to a few customers later on, for safety reasons, in order to carry out the repairs."

The spokesman added: "We are committed to providing a reliable electricity supply and in December we installed a new piece of equipment on our underground electricity network and rearranged our network to reinforce local supplies.

"Meanwhile our network engineers are carrying out more detailed work to see what further work can be arranged to further reinforce the local electricity network."

  • Do you think there is a connection between the bad weather and the power cut? Do you think there is a particular problem with electricity supplies in Petts Wood? Leave your comments below.