Electricty cut at troubled Nailsea care home

The week didn't look as if it could get much worse for a care home on the outskirts of Nailsea when the lights went out.

A Care Quality Commission report highlighting staff failings was released in the full glare of the media and then the home for people with dementia suffered a power cut at 4.30pm on Friday.

This was on top of two members of staff being  arrested last month on suspicion of assaulting and neglecting an elderly resident there.

Engineers installed an emergency generator at 10.15pm but for a further nearby households the lights didn't come back on until the early hours of Saturday morning.

A home at Lodge Lane, Wraxall, caters for up to 78 people aged 65 plus and employs 140 staff.

The CQC report was featured online, in newspapers and on the television news last night.

Western Power shift manager John Chivers said it took a lot of digging to locate the fault in the Sawyer's Close area.

Power was finally restored for 72 households at 2.53am, he said.

A resident of Elm Lodge Road said: "I was told an underground cable blew up.

"One side of the street was basking in light and my side of the street was in total darkness."