Students are being sent home from Parkstone Grammar School after a power cut hit homes in Poole and Christchurch this morning.

Parents of children at Parkstone Grammar School on Sopers Lane have been asked to come and collect them this morning if possible, as workmen from a nearby substation need to switch off the electric to carry out a repair.

Head teacher, Tracy Harris, said that they have put an emergency closure in place and parents of the 1,100 pupils have been contacted by email and text to inform them of this.

She added: "For parents who are not able to collect their children, we have food onsite and staff who will be supervising them until 3.15pm. The buses will then run as normal at 3.15pm and the school will open as normal tomorrow."

A spokesperson for SSE confirmed that there are 59 customers who have been left without power in the BH17 area. She said that they are hoping to get the power back on by 4pm.

According to SSE, power to homes in the BH10 area went off at 8.52am this morning with 17 postcode areas and 198 houses affected, due to cable damage. That is expected to be restored by 1pm.

In the BH23 area of Christchurch, power went out at 9.37am and is not due to be fixed until quarter to six this evening. It's due to a cable fault and 24 houses are without power.

The traffic lights at Gravel Hill are also now not operating because of a power failure.