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Blackouts leave Robins in dark

Barbara Canning
29/10/2003

FOOTBALL fans are being left in the dark after a spate of power cuts forced them to call off crucial matches.

Ashton United bosses have been left fuming after a two-hour power cut meant they had to cancel the fourth match this year. And now the club is calling for action, to repair the fault and prevent any more upset at the Hurst-based ground.

Club director Mike Cummings said: "Every time the power goes off the floodlights go out at the ground so we have to stop the game."

He said that as well as the embarrassment caused on match days the club is suffering heavy financial losses because of the blackouts.

"When we do have to cancel a game we have to reimburse all the tickets, the catering for the match is left to go to waste and when the game is re-played later in the season we have to stand the cost of the coach," he said.

A spokeswoman for United Utilities, said: "There does seem to have been a series of unconnected faults but we have noticed that all of them have been associated with an overloading on the network."

She said that engineers have now installed a bigger fuse at the substation for that area allowing more energy to pass through. "We hope the new fuse will solve the problem but although, like any other suppliers, we strive to give our customers an interupted electrical supply we can't guarantee that because there are too many factors outside our control.

"We would always advise any organisation, where power is essential, to look at installing a back-up generator system," she said.