More than 8,000 homes were plunged into darkness on Saturday after a transmission cable failed in Warwick.

At around 11.19 pm, homes and businesses from Belmont to Dockyard lost power. A spokesman for 64 Degrees restaurant said the blackout left diners in darkness, but all the food had already been served.

"It was completely unexpected," he said. "It was completely pitch black. Fortunately, most of the food was already done. That was our concern. The billing we could worry about later."

Customers at Snorkel Park tried to wait out the blackout, but bar staff had to close down before the lights returned. "The problem we had was that nobody wanted to leave," said a spokesperson for Snorkel Park.

Belco said that the blackout was caused by a transmission cable fault near Haywards Grocery Store.

A Belco spokesman said: "When a fault occurs on a transmission cable, the system automatically isolates the affected portion of the network to protect the power station and the rest of the system."

Around 8,900 customers lost power, but by 3.10 am on Sunday electricity had been completely restored.