Motorists in Hitchin are facing long delays tonight after a power cut this morning saw the installation of a temporary set of traffic lights in a bid to fix the problem.

The lights were set up on Upper Tilehouse Street, part of the main A505 trunk road through the town, by UK Power Networks, and long tailbacks built up during the evening rush hour.

Charlotte Prutton, landlady of The Highlander pub on Upper Tilehouse Street, told the Comet: “I came back from town this afternoon and they’ve started digging up Tilehouse Street outside the Baptist Church. There’s quite a lot of traffic building up. There’s now a set of temporary traffic lights near to the normal permanent ones.”

A spokesman for UK Power Networks said: “Engineers are working as quickly and as safely as possible to restore power supplies to two customers in the Upper Tilehouse Street area of Hitchin.

“A fault on the underground electricity distribution network at 7.40am this morning meant 10 customers experienced a power cut.

“Supplies to eight customers have already been restored but the cable repair means that we have had to dig to the cable in a public footpath.

“As we have to provide a walkway for pedestrians, we have had to block off part of one lane in the road to allow for this and are controlling traffic with temporary lights.

“The cable repairs are progressing and the final two customers should have power later tonight. We will endeavour to reinstate the road surface afterwards so that traffic flow can return to normal.

“We appreciate how difficult it can be to lose power and to experience traffic delays.

“We apologise for the inconvenience caused by this incident.”