A RESIDENT says it was 'beyond a joke' when two villages suffered their latest power cut on Christmas Eve - with the loss of electricity having major health implications for his wife.
As reported by the Gazette & Herald, previously, Andrew Bailey said there had been months of power cuts in Beadlam and Nawton, including one lasting almost 24 hours on December 5.
And despite being promised by Northern Powergrid that the problem had been fixed, another power cut affected 80 properties on Christmas Eve before coming back on at about 11pm.
He said his wife had contacted Northern Powergrid and had heard back that the outage was due to a different fault to the one apparently fixed on December 5.
Following this power cut, a spokesperson for Northern Powergrid said that a permanent repair was carried out in the area on Tuesday, December 6, which they believe to have solved the issue
"This whole issue is now beyond a joke," Andrew said.
"My wife who suffers from aspergillosis (severe allergy to mould and damp spores) needs heating on in the house or becomes very unwell.
"She is still recovering at present from the after effects of the previous power cut as we have no other heating, and we actually relied on tea lights in terracotta dishes to not only provide light but also any heat.
"Not only is this bad for anyone who needs heating, elderly or people who are ill, but it is also causing stress, as no one knows when it will come back on again."
Fellow resident Roger Taylor said the situation with Northern Powergrid was not going to get any better at all.
"The cuts have been happening on a regular basis for at least the last five years.
"We had a cut in the dark, very early on December 5th - as we were preparing to depart for Prague for five days. it came back on but soon cut as we were leaving home.
"Northern Powergrid's van was at the sub station as we drove off. On our return home on 9th December, I noticed two large patches of new asphalt and a pile of NP roadwork fences etc, just outside of substation access point, so I assumed that the aforementioned underground cable had at long, long last, been repaired.
"No such luck. On Christmas Eve at 9pm we had another cut for two hours this time. Again I spotted the NP van on its usual site.
"Clearly nothing lasting has happened to fix anything. Sure enough, I had the usual message on the phone to say the fuse had been replaced - as has been told each time for five years.
"This is now way beyond acceptable and is in fact highly dangerous. Twice we have nearly fallen downstairs in the sudden darkness and this is a tragedy that is going to happen.
"It's always 76 houses and we have a very high proportion of elderly residents in the village.
"We have had zero offers of any compensation from NP. Talk about insult and injury - it seems like it will never end."
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