Birds blamed for major power failure in North Yorkshire
Birds have been blamed for cutting power to 85,000 people in North Yorkshire.
Northern Powergrid said a "freak bird strike" at an electricity sub-station was responsible for the fault, which was reported at about 07:15 BST.
It said the event was rare and has apologised to customers for the inconvenience.
The company said power was restored in Scarborough, Malton, Filey and Whitby in less than two hours.
Roderick Stuart, spokesman for Northern Powergrid, said: "It appears the bird or birds got into our sub-station complex in Scarborough causing some damage and that caused the power to go off affecting around 85,000 customers."
Mr Stuart said the company was currently upgrading the sub-station so only one supply circuit was available rather than the usual two.
"It couldn't have happened at a worse time as there was no ability to automatically switch to a different circuit," he added.