RESIDENTS who endured separate power cuts two days running found it impossible to alert chiefs at electricity firm Aquila - because the company's emergency phone lines were faulty.

Frustrated callers hit by the power cuts on Wednesday and Thursday last week were unable to talk to anyone at the firm - formerly Midlands Electricity. Instead they were directed "from pillar to post and back again", said Terry Wilcox.

Mr Wilcox, of Wilcox Desk Top Equipment office suppliers in George Street, said he rang Aquila's special hotline when his firm was affected by the first power cut, which hit more than 3,400 households and businesses for two hours last Wednesday.

"I dialled the fault reporting line on 08457 331331, where a recording told me to ring the Power Loss line, an 0800 number.

"I rang that number, where a recorded message told me to ring the Emergency Line, a different 0800 number.

"But when I got through there a message told me the number had been changed - and I was told to ring the number I had tried at the start.

"It was frustrating to say the least," he said. "We were unable to get hold of anyone who could tell us what was going on and how long we could expect to be affected, and I'm sure plenty of other people were in the same position."

A spokeswoman for Aquila Networks said the phone lines were affected by a computer fault which misdirected callers - but the fault had now been resolved.

"It was an unusual set of circumstances but purely an unfortunate coincidence," she said.

The first power cut was due to a fault underneath Green Street, Kidderminster. The second, on Thursday, affected 2,574 homes and businesses and was caused by an underground fault in Foley Park, near Kidderminster Ambulance Station.

"It is certainly unusual to have unconnected faults on consecutive days and we do keep a lookout for clusters which might indicate more serious problems. We do not think that is the case here though."