A HUGE power cut left vast swathes of Bury in the dark tonight.

Electricity North West (ENW) say damage to their equipment is responsible for the outage, which is set to leave some homes without power until 5am tomorrow.

The power is reported to have been down since about 6.15pm, with ENW reporting a high-voltage fault to be affecting the town.

Areas affected include Higher Woodhill, Elton, Brandlesholme, parts of Limefield and Woolfold.

Some locations in Greenmount and Ramsbottom have also been affected.

The power will be restored to most homes by 11pm tonight, ENW added, and some residents in Brandlesholme have reported the power coming back on already. 

A spokesman for Electricity North West said: "We have a high-voltage fault affecting Bury.

"This fault is due to damage to our equipment.

"Our engineers are aware of the problem. Our team is now on site and working to restore supply.

"Our estimated time for restoration is 5am on Tuesday.

"We apologise for the inconvenience caused by the interruption and our engineers will work to restore power as soon as possible."