Explosion beneath pavement forces evacuation

UK Power Networks engineers are working as quickly and as safely as possible to restore power supplies to 37 customers in the Caledonian Road area of Islington.

At about 9.15am today 84 customers experienced a power cut following a fault on a piece of equipment forming part of the underground electricity distribution network.

To keep London powered, we have about 100,000 cable boxes and 36,000km of cables under the streets and there are relatively few cases where our equipment has faulted.

We regularly inspect, maintain and reinforce our network to ensure that London maintains its position as the most reliable electricity network in Britain.

Underground equipment can always develop a fault but most of the time it has no external impact.

I looked outside and I could see the fire coming up from underground. Then the fire brigade came and closed the road. My business was far enough away, but if I had been at Iceland I would have been a bit worried.