More than 700 customers were affected by a BELCO power cut yesterday morning that left homes and businesses without electricity for in excess of three hours.

The power outage was caused by a tripped switch on a Tribe Road near St. John's Road in Pembroke.

BELCO spokesman Lynda Smith said: "The first outages took place at 9.36 a.m. and affected customers on Berkeley Road, St. John's Road, North Shore Road and Cox's Hill Road.

"At 10.31 a.m., when BELCO engineers were attempting to close the circuit, it resulted in other areas losing power.

"At 11.40 a.m. there was another voltage drop and at 12.36 p.m. electricity was fully restored."

Although many residents and businesses were not too badly affected by the power cut, or were blissfully unaware that it happened, it did lead to problems at The Royal Gazette offices in Par-La-Ville Road.

It caused a power surge in the building, which ultimately led to the computer system crashing for several hours. The problem was eventually solved at about 2 p.m.

Arnold's Family Market, manager, said: "I don't think that we were affected by the power outage."

Eugene Correia, manager of the Garden Market on Serpentine Road, said: "The lights flickered, but we were very lucky for a change. I think that the power did not go out because they ran the cables underground a few months ago."

Several other shops in the Spanish Point area also said that their lights only flickered, but did not go out.

The manager of Point Mart said: "It didn't affect us at all, but our cable TV went out for a few seconds."

A Cox's Hill Road resident, who did not want to be named, said: "It is absolutely outrageous, my radio went off and I was unable to make my mid-morning tea."