Fury as power cut forces Coventry city centre shops to close

[dutchman]

A massive power cut forced dozens of frustrated Coventry city centre shops to close for the day.



The blackout hit the City Arcade and Shelton Square area of Coventry yesterday and meant many traders lost an entire day’s takings.

As power still had not been restored by the afternoon,others faced losing stock worth hundreds of pounds.

Electricity workmen were still working well into last night in a bid to restore power in time for today’s trading.

Some businesses did try to stay open yesterday, struggling on without heating or lights.

Many shopkeepers were furious that the blackout had left them out of pocket.

The chaos is thought to have been caused by a fault in an underground cable, causing nearby businesses to lose power at about 6.30am. It was still out hours later.

Tony Davies, of the Rufa Fish Spa in the City Arcade, was left frantically trying to keep his fish alive.

He had found a way to keep the tank filters going for a few hours but after hours without power, he was struggling.

He said: “It has been a big problem. Each tank has its own filter pumping oxygen to the fish and if they don’t get that they start gasping for air.

“If the fish die it could destroy us – especially at this time of year when our business is picking up again.

“With this being the city centre I thought somebody would be informed on what is happening, but no-one knew anything.”

Mr Davies was forced to cancel 10 appointments yesterday and if any of his 12,000 fish die, he stands to lose thousands of pounds.

Further down the arcade, the Bus Stop cafe was shut all day.

Pamela Edgeson, who works at the cafe, said: “With the fridges and freezers out, a lot of the food was unusable. It was ruined.

“At 7.30am the workmen told us the power would be back on within an hour but at 2pm we were still waiting.

“We couldn’t serve anyone and lost a whole day’s trade. We’re normally very busy in the mornings and lunchtimes so not being able to open for a day is a real inconvenience.”

Last night it was unclear exactly when the power would be restored.

Shander Ho, of the Wow superstore, said he tried to stay open but lost all power by the afternoon.

He said:“It has been a real inconvenience. Although we were open the customers didn’t want to come in because it was dark inside - everyone thought we were closed.

“I have three large fridges and freezers so a large amount of that stock was ruined. We definitely made a loss of about £300-400.”

Some retailers had been given temporary power until the problem was solved.

A spokeswoman for Western Power Distribution said the company was not made aware of the problem until 9.30am.

She said “Western Power Distribution were first made aware of the loss of power at 9.30am and investigations were carried out straight away. Emergency repairs were carried out and every effort was made to restore supplies as quickly as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience caused to our customers.”

[dutchman]

Coventry stores back trading again after city centre power cut

SHOPS in the City Arcade and Shelton Square who lost trade because of a massive blackout on Thursday are all back up and running.

Up to 20 businesses in the city centre were left without power for up to 13 hours after a fault in an underground cable.

Electricians worked through the night to restore power.

Tony Davies of Rufa Fish Spa said it had been “stressful”. He had to cancel 10 appointments and spent the day trying to keep his 12,000 fish alive.

Eventually he ran cables from the florist opposite and used their power to keep the filters in his fish tank going.

“Without the florist’s power we would have been destroyed. Half term is a very busy week for us so to lose a day’s trade is bad.”

Shander Ho, of the Wow superstore, had to stay until power was restored at 8pm because he could not get his shutters down.

He said: “It’s a relief to have the power back. I hope we can claim something back for the lost trade.”

In Shelton Square clothes store Gladrags was open but with no lights and the shutters down but customers thought it was closed.

A friend looking after the shop for owner Natalie Haynes said: “The shop has been really busy all week so for the power to be out all day was not good.

“She lost a lot of money. I just hope she can claim some of that back.”