THOUSANDS of homes are without power due to a major electrical fault.

Engineers are working to restore supply to homes as far afield as Canford Heath in Poole to Ensbury Park in Bournemouth and Highcliffe and Walkford in Christchurch.

SSEN - Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks - have apologised in a post on Twitter and said the power should be back on by 6pm. A total of 155 postcode areas in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole are affected.

A spokesperson for the company said: "We are very sorry for the powercut affecting CanfordHeath, Somerford and the surrounding areas.

"We have a main network fault and engineers on route to restore supplies.

"We aim to have the majority of supplies restored by 18:00."