HUNDREDS of people on a Petersfield estate have been given generators after a fire broke out at nearby sub-station.

Dozens of homes around Moggs Mead were left in the dark for up to eight hours last Saturday following the blaze at Long Down.

Most are still being powered by generators as the unit was badly damaged by the fire, which broke out just after noon.

Scottish Southern Electric (SSE) is still investigating the cause of the blaze but firefighters believe that a power surge was to blame.

"We had a fault with a piece of our equipment at Long Down," confirmed an SSE spokesman.

"Engineers made the area safe and are undertaking repairs while investigations are ongoing into the cause of the fault. Many customers are still on generator power but we're doing our utmost to return them to mains power."