UK power cut: Ofgem demands answers over blackout chaos
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Britain's energy watchdog has asked National Grid for answers after a major power outage affected nearly a million people across England and Wales.
Train passengers were stranded, traffic lights failed to function and thousands of homes were dipped into the dark during the blackout on Friday.
Some train services continue to be disrupted Saturday morning.
1[ads1]9659005] National Grid said it was caused by problems with two power generators, and the problem was quickly resolved.
Regulator Ofgem said it has requested an "urgent detailed report" to find out what went wrong.
It will then decide what further steps need to be taken, adding: "This may include enforcement action."
- Large power outage affects home and transport
- The hospital loses power over the place
The outage happened about 5:00 pm Friday afternoon, said National Grid, with blackouts over the Midlands, South East, South West, North West and north east of England and Wales.
The company said power was restored by 6:30 pm BST.
Northern Powergrid said the problems had affected Newcastle Airport and the city's subway system.
And during Friday's rush hour, there were tremendous disruptions on the railways as police officers were called in to help travelers and delayed passengers were stranded for hours.
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All services in and out of King & # 39; s Cross Station were suspended during Friday rush hour
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King's Cross was among the hardest hit stations, with all trains hanging for hours.
The first train out of the station was 21:30 to Peterborough, and the first long-distance service was packed when it departed for Newcastle at 22:46.
Passenger Dayna McAlpine told BBC Radio 5 Live her train took almost 13 hours to reach London King's Cross from Edinburgh – a journey that would normally take less than five hours.
"After hours, seven things started to get pretty tense," she said. "People threatened to evacuate from the train … The food ran out about five hours ago."
Others on social media reported having traveled for 12 hours, while some train passengers were stuck in trains until the early hours of the morning.
Some train companies warned that the disturbance would continue until Saturday morning.
London North Eastern Railway which runs between King's Cross and Northern England and Scotland, has canceled some services.
Thameslink and Great Northern said that a number of trains failed to arrive at their proper location on Friday due to the disruption and problems will continue until 12:00 on BST on Saturday.
Eerie Journey on the Full 21:00 to Newcastle [19659031] By Danny Savage, BBC News correspondent
When virtually all northbound services from London King's Cross were canceled last night , managed a long-distance train to get out.
21:00 to Newcastle slipped away from Platform 0 at 22:46.
It was eerie on board, seeing every other platform deserted one Friday night when there should have been many trains in.
All the doors of King's Cross were locked when we arrived except one.
The British Transport Police let in a handful of people if they were on their way to Peterborough or a stop over there to Newcastle.
The train was full. But slowly they got on board wherever they wanted.
Along the way, in conversations with strangers, it was about how acceptable it is for the national grid to fall short of the commitment, and is our power supply really that fragile in 2019?
In the worst of the power outage, around 500,000 people were affected in the Western Power Distribution area – including 44,500 customers in Wales – while 110,000 Northern Powergrid customers also lost power
In London and the South East, 300,000 people affected, UK Power Networks said, and another 26,000 customers were without electricity in the North West.
On Friday, Harriet Jackson described an "apocalyptic" scene on Northcote Road, Battersea, when traffic lights were cut out and cars did not stop.
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An employee guides train passengers with torch lights at Clapham Junction station in London
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Passengers traveling on Thameslink were delayed, with problems expected to continue until Saturday
And Scott McKenzie, 31, from Cardiff, said "various alarms went off" during the 15-minute power outage at Newcastle Airport.
"We were literally plunged into the dark and people were using their phones as torches to see and get around," he added.
At Ipswich Hospital, a backup generator was not working to supply power to outpatient areas after the power failure, which caused problems for 15 minutes before the power was restored. [19659005] In a video posted online, Julian Leslie, head of national control at the National Grid, explained that the cut was called "the loss of two generators connecting to the National Grid transmission network to export its power. "
" As a result of this, and this rare incident, the system needs to protect itself.
"And what happened when the frequency dropped, the system could see this, and unfortunately the way the system protects itself even on is losing some demand. "
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Lily Winnan
Passengers on a train near Kentish Town Station stopped and began walking along the tracks
On Friday, the Department of Transport said: "Today's power outage has affected journeys.
" We are working hard with Network Rail and others to ensure that the systems are up and running as quickly as possible so everyone can complete their journeys safely. "
