HUNDREDS of people have been left without electricity for a second day after a power cut hit about 500 properties.

Homeowners in Croft and Hurworth, near Darlington, were affected on Monday morning when an overhead power cable was damaged.

The fault forced Croft CE Primary School to close, and it lost power again today (Tuesday, December 18), though staff were able to hold a Christmas party for pupils.

Engineers from Northern Powergrid worked throughout the night on a 12-mile stretch of cabling, but have yet to locate the cause.

A Northern Powergrid spokesman said: “It is an intermittent fault and we therefore have to wait for the power to go off before we can assess where the problem is.

“We are doing everything we can to get the power fully restored.”