THOUSANDS of people in Bromsgrove were left in darkness after more blackouts hit the town on Sunday and Monday.

On Monday, almost 10,000 homes were left without light for most of the evening from 7.15 to 9.40pm. Swimmers at a ladies only night at the Dolphin Centre had to leave the pool and people at the David Lloyd Leisure Centre also had to cut their workouts short.

Earlier, in the middle of the day, 3,449 homes lost power for around half-an-hour and on Sunday, there was another cut.

The town has been hit by more than a dozen blackouts in the last three months and angry residents have questioned the reliability of the power supply, particularly with autumn and winter approaching.

"It's like a Third World country," said Richard Turner, of Harwood Park. "I'm sure there must be some reason behind the supply going off so much."

A spokeswoman for power provider Aquila said the problem was an underground cable fault in Chapel Street.

Alister Foye of EnergyWatch, the Government's independent watchdog, said they would be keeping a close eye on the supply after the recent cuts.

"It would seem likely they have all been due to different faults," he said. "Accidents do happen but only time will tell if this is the case."

Meanwhile Councillor Nick Psirides (Con-Norton) has contacted Aquila. In his reply Kenton Bradbury, the managing director of asset management, said all faults were examined to look for possible trends.

He said those affecting Bromsgrove have been "varied and are not indicative of a degrading network."

Mr Bradbury added that work was being carried to upgrade lines and cables to improve performance.

One man who was not too worried was David Thoronton, co-licensee, of The Hop Pole Inn in Birmingham Road. "When the power went off in people's homes, they came to the pub," he said. "We put some candles out and sold a lot of bottles. It was actually a pretty good night."