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Power cut hits north of Scotland Power cut hits north of Scotland
(35 minutes later)
A power cut has left large areas of northern Scotland without electricity. A severe power cut has left much of northern Scotland without electricity.
The area affected is said to stretch from Fort William up to Lerwick in Shetland. The area affected stretched from Fort William in the Highlands through Moray and Caithness to Orkney and Shetland.
The Western Isles and Skye are also said to be among the areas hit by the outage, which is understood to have happened before 21:00. The Western Isles and Skye were also said to be among the areas hit by the outage, which is understood to have happened at about 20:30.
Electricity is reported to have now been restored in Inverness, but some rail services to and from the city have been delayed. It is thought almost 200,000 properties were affected at the height of the disruption.
A Scottish and Southern Energy spokesman said it was aware of an issue affecting the network in parts of northern Scotland. Electricity is reported to have now been restored in areas including Inverness and parts of the Western and Northern Isles.
He said the firm was working to identify the fault and restore power as soon as possible. Some rail services to and from Inverness have been delayed.
However, he said he did not know how many homes were affected or when the power cut started. An update on the official Scottish Hydro Power Distribution twitter feed at about 22:20 said power had been restored to 100,000 customers, but some 77,000 remained without electricity.
A statement released by the firm on Wednesday evening said: "We are currently experiencing a major transmission network fault affecting the Highlands, Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland.
"Our engineers are being mobilised to primary locations to begin the restoration of supplies.
"The nature of the fault is incredibly severe and at this time we are unable to confirm a restoration time.
"We apologise for any inconvenience caused."
Any customers affected by loss of supply should call Scottish and Southern Energy power distribution on 0800 300 999.Any customers affected by loss of supply should call Scottish and Southern Energy power distribution on 0800 300 999.