A FARNWORTH woman -- one of dozens of residents who suffered a day-long power cut -- is furious after being told she will miss out on compensation because power was restored for ONE hour . . . in the middle of the night.

As reported in the Bolton Evening News, homes on Westland Avenue, Waverley Square and Woodfield Grove were left in the dark for more than 24 hours.

NORWEB engineers laid 230 metres of new cable and worked round the clock to rectify a major fault.

Most of the residents are entitled to payments of £50 as compensation for the inconvenience caused by a power cut of more than 24 hours. But Karen Haslam, who lives on Westland Avenue, was told she would not be entitled to any compensation because her electricity was temporarily restored at midnight.

The mother-of -three said she lost a freezer full of food and claims her power was only restored for about 10 minutes when she was in bed. She stormed: "We were all promised compensation and a lot of people got it and I couldn't believe it when I was told I wouldn't get it.

"Apparently you can't get the payment if the power comes on in the 24-hour period, but it only came on for a few minutes and it was at a time when it was of no use to anyone. I think it's absolutely disgusting because we suffered a lot of inconvenience and I lost a freezer full of food."

A spokesman for NORWEB said power was restored for residents on Westland Avenue at midnight but had to be disconnected again an hour later for safety reasons.

The spokesman told the Bolton Evening News: "Compensation of £50 is payable to people who have been without power continuously for 24 hours and NORWEB were pro-active in making the payments without waiting for claims.

"Power was restored for an hour for some residents and they did not receive compensation but anyone who feels aggrieved can still make a claim if they wish."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.