HASLEMERE'S West Street traders are furious after finding themselves plunged into darkness on Tuesday afternoon on one of their busiest days of the year.

Shopkeepers are counting the cost after being forced to close their doors just six days before Christmas when water board men drilled through a 415 low voltage power cable.

Some were forced to close during the afternoon as darkness fell. They estimated they had lost thousands of pounds worth of potential business. Some traders found themselves with only partial supplies but others were unaffected by the power cut at around 2-30 pm.

Traders were irate after claiming that they had informed contractors about the dangers of digging at the spot, in front of the new Charter Walk new mini-shopping mall, where workmen drilled through the same cable six weeks ago.

At Taylor and Roberts, owner Bob Cutting found his stockroom and workshop without electricity while the shop had full power.

"Sparks shot about 10 to 15 feet into the air and I was amazed when the smoke cleared that the workman wasn't badly injured," said Mr Cutting.

"This was just the icing on the cake," said an angry Mr Cutting who said that West Street traders were up in arms over the building work.

"This building started 18 months ago and the whole thing has been a fiasco from start to finish."

Sales director of Concours Motors Keith Patterson said he felt sorry for the man who hit the cable and who it was understood was shaken and suffered blisters to his hands.

"West Street has been total and utter chaos for almost two years - it has been one catastrophe after another including flooding."

"We are going to claim for compensation," said Florian Kleinlercher, owner of Between the Lines.

"We lost in the region of £2,500 and lost around 60 per cent of our sales on Tuesday," said Mr Kleinlercher, who was forced to close his shop when the power was cut to the shop till. "I was annoyed that we had to turn customers away," he said.

At Desous, owner Joyce Hitchman estimated she had lost at least £100 worth of business. "Since August this road has been purgatory."

A spokesman for Thames Water said: "It could have been very serious for the workman. The contractors did not know that cables were right beneath the surface."

A Southern Electricity spokesman said it was "quite common to leave cables exposed for a day or two until we are satisfied that the work has been carried out. The contractors are expected to double check with the mapping people as to were the cables are."

Jeremy Stevens a director of Chelsworth Leisure, the developers, apologised to the traders saying they had been "very patient".

"The contract has run on for far longer than we anticipated because of various problems."

Referring to the "L" shaped piece of land owned by the Gibbs Trust at the rear of the new shops which has prevented access to the site from the car park, Mr Steven said: "We knew the trust was always going to be firm, but negotiations haven't been easy."

He added: "We have much friendlier relations with the trust now and are sorting out how to complete the buildings at the car park end of the development."