Businesses in Finchley were left in darkness after they were hit by a power cut.

Several shops in Ballards Lane, Finchley, were affected from 8.30am until 10am.

The loss of electricity follows a similar series of power cuts which affected businesses in the same road last week.

Jay Champ, 28, works in Mums Dry Cleaners and Launderette, which was affected. He said: “We didn’t shut, but there was a lot of trouble. All the lights were off, and all the machines stopped. Customers were really annoyed, there were a lot of people rushing around.

"I’ve only been working here for three months, but my customers said it had happened before. I’m annoyed, because this is a business and nobody likes losing customers. We will lose customers and money if it keeps happening. We probably lost about £50 as a result, and one machine still isn’t working.

"I have no idea if it will happen again, but if it did, it would have a very bad effect.”

Sophie Hewitt, who works at Majestic Wine, next door to the laundry, said: “About a quarter of our shop was affected. There was enough light to keep open, although normally we would have to shut it. Luckily it wasn’t too bad for us this time.”

Finchley Dental was also affected, as was Delight Food and Wine shop, which had to shut.

A UK Power Networks spokesman said: "UK Power Networks’ engineers worked as quickly and safely as possible to restore electricity to 23 customers in Ballards Lane this morning following a fault on the underground network. Supplies were lost at 9.16am but were restored to everyone by 10.08am. We apologise for any inconvenience caused."