Thousands were hit by a major power cut triggered by a sub-station fault.

Traffic lights were put out of action across Brighton and Hove yesterday and people were trapped in lifts during the lunchtime blackout.

TV tennis fans missed the first few minutes of Tim Henman's third round match at Wimbledon.

The power cut is believed to have been caused by a fault at a main sub-station in Hove at 12.34pm.

Because of demands on the electricity system at the time, it was also feeding supplies to parts of Brighton.

An area stretching from Tisbury Road in Hove to Gardner Street in the North Laine, Brighton, lost power.

Michael Crane, 62, Neighbourhood Watch coordinator for Norfolk Square, Brighton, said: "Everyone was stressed because their fridges and freezers are stocked up and in this heat they would thaw out really quickly."

EDF Energy apologised to customers and launched an investigation into the cause of the cut.

Boots' main store in North Road, Brighton, had to evacuate customers and staff as emergency lighting came on.

Jess Greenfield, a team manager at the store, said: "We had a couple of hundred people in at the time.

"They had to be evacuated for safety reasons as the emergency lighting is really too dim to allow people to remain inside."

George Wiggins, 27, an optical assistant at the store said: "The power was off for about 40 minutes and we had to close the doors and send customers away.

"We had a lady in for an eye test and someone for a hearing test and they both had to leave."

Stores in North Laine and Western Road were left without power for about 45 minutes.

Richard Robinson, bar manager of the Curve Bar Brasserie in Gardner Street, said: "We had no power until 1pm.

"We probably lost about £300 because we couldn't serve customers and we were getting worried about the food in the fridges going off."

The car parks at Churchill Square were hit but the main shopping centre stayed open because it has its own generator.

Marks and Spencer, in Western Road, was not hit by the power failure but Waitrose was.

A spokesman said the store had to close for an hour.

Laura Battisegola, 23, who works for Luigi Menswear in Gardner Street, Brighton, said: "Suddenly all the power went off, including the lights and the security cameras. The credit card machine was offline as well. All the shop owners were just standing in the street wondering what was going on.

"We had to close because it is too much of a risk to open in darkness and with no security cameras. It was a major disruption, especially since it was at lunch time which is often our busiest time."

Hundreds were evacuated from Hove Town Hall in Norton Road as fire alarms were triggered.

Staff poured on to the street along with delegates at the British Anaesthetic Recovery Nurses' Association conference being held there. One said: "The evacuation was very calm and orderly and we were allowed back in again after about half an hour."

Fire crews from Brighton, Hove and Shoreham arrived after a report of smoke coming from the town hall. It was traced to a generator in the building.

A council spokesman said: "It started smoking because it had not been used for some time."

Traffic lights in busy Church Road stopped working but no accidents were reported.

An East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman said people were trapped in lifts at B-wise in Blatchington Road, a building in Wilbury Road and at Phillip Court in The Drive.

Power was restored to most customers just before 1pm, the rest a short time later.

An EDF spokeswoman said: "A fault at a sub-station close to Hove seafront briefly interrupted power supplies to several thousand customers.

"EDF Energy apologises for the disruption."

June 24, 2005