Homes in Westwick, near North Walsham, were without power last night after high-voltage overhead cables came down in a field near The Hill.

A spokesman for UK Power networks said engineers worked through the night to restore supplies to customers. They were alerted to the problem by the fire service at about 11.45pm and were there within half an hour. Firefighters from North Walsham helped at the scene.

'To allow safe working, power supplies to 355 customers had to be switched off at 12.40am. We were able to restore supplies to 337 customers at 1am by altering the source of their electricity supply. The supply to the remaining 18 customers was returned when our engineers completed their work on the overhead network at 3.10am,' said the spokesman.

He added: 'We appreciate how difficult it is to be without electricity and apologise for any inconvenience caused. The reason why the lines came down is not known and is being investigated.'

* Earlier in the evening, at about 9pm, firefighters from North Walsham and Mundesley were called to deal with a cooker fire at a home in the town's Yarmouth Road last night. The fire was extinguished before the crews arrived.