Hundreds of Edinburgh homes hit by power cut

Hundreds of homes and properties in Edinburgh have been hit by a power cut after a cable fault.

The Balmoral Hotel clock stopped for a while. Picture: Jane Barlow

The worst affected areas were Leith and Granton and the Shore - although parts of the city centre were also hit.

The clock at the Balmoral hotel, which always runs three minutes fast so passengers are not late for their trains, was stopped.

Once back on, it was running 15 minutes late. The Scottish Parliament, the council headquarters at Waverley Court and City Chambers also lost electricity. The power went out at 11.20am with power being restored to most areas between 15 and 40 minutes.

Engineers have been called to the Balmoral clock to return the time back to three minutes fast.

A spokesman for the hotel said: “It’s business as usual the Balmoral despite a city-wide power cut temporarily affecting the hotel. Our power has been restored. An engineer will be working on our iconic clock to restore it to its correct time of three minutes s fast following the city-wide power cut.”

It is understood the Scottish Parliament was only out for a few minutes as a generator kicked in. A spokesman for Scottish Power said the blackout had been caused by a fault in the line and most customers only experienced loss of power for a short time.