Community pantry loses £1,500 of food after power cut

Toby Lindsay-White, from Project40Seven, seen here before the power cut, said £1,500 of perishable food was lost

A community cafe said it lost £1,500 of fresh and frozen food after an electrical fault saw its freezers and refrigerators lost power.

Project40Seven, in Leiston High Street, runs a community hub and supermarket and said the electricity failed shortly after midnight.

Co-director Toby Lindsay-White said staff arrived to find the hub in darkness on Monday morning.

UK Power Networks said the electricity interruption was caused by an underground cable fault.

Mr Lindsay-White said he understood 11 other businesses and nearby residential properties had also been impacted by the power cut.

"We haven't been able to offer our services to people from a number of communities that rely on what we do," he said.

"We've had to dispose of nearly £1,500 worth of stock because it had got below minimum temperature."

The charity said it supported 700 households in the East Suffolk area.

People used the supermarket to "supplement the food they have and make their budgets stretch that bit further".

The pantry is hoping power will be restored by the end of the day

The charity said it did not know when the power would be back on.

Mr Lindsay-White said the community hub spent £1,500 per week on purchasing mostly chilled food, as well as receiving donations from the charity Fareshare.

In a statement, UK Power Networks apologised to the hub and its other customers, "for several power interruptions since midnight".

It added: "Our engineers are on site working as quickly as is safely possible to excavate and fix an underground cable fault which is currently affecting the electricity supply to 11 properties.

"For domestic properties freezers will keep food cold for 24-48 hours and business customers who rely on power for commercial reasons can claim on their insurance."