BUSINESSES and homes in the east of York were left without power for over an hour today.

A total of 20 premises along the Hull Road area of the city were affected by the power cut at 6.50am, caused by a fault with an underground cable.

Power was restored by 8am, and workers from Northern Electric were trying to locate the fault and establish the cause of the problem.

A spokeswoman for the company said: "We only had two reports of power being lost, one from Hull Road and another from a new office block in that area.

"We know that 20 premises were affected and it was caused by an underground cable fault.

"Until our workers have located the fault we cannot establish how it was caused."

Updated: 10:58 Thursday, November 22, 2001