SHOPPERS in Felixstowe were disrupted by a blackout as they tried to buy their last minute Christmas presents.Lights went off at about 2.30pm yesterday after the town was hit by a major power cut.

SHOPPERS in Felixstowe were disrupted by a black-out as they tried to buy their last minute Christmas presents.

Lights went off at about 2.30pm yesterday after the town was hit by a major power cut.

Ross McDonald, manager at Iceland supermarket on Hamilton Road, said: “All the lights have gone off here.

“No one panicked but we had an evacuation when they went off.

“The whole of Felixstowe is down; we've had to use emergency lighting.”

Meanwhile Suffolk police confirmed that traffic lights around the town had stopped working and emergency alarms in many buildings had been activated as a result of the power-failure.

A spokesman for EDF Energy said: “Power supplies to several thousand customers in central Felixstowe were lost at about 2.30pm today.

“EDF Energy Networks engineers restored supplies to most of the customers within ten minutes and are working to restore power to the remaining customers as soon as possible.

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this incident.”

The spokesman said the cause of the black-out was not yet known.