SHOCKED staff at EDF Energy in Ipswich today spoke of their sadness after the sudden death of company managing director Alan Carey.Mr Carey was MD of Power Networks at EDF Energy which deals with electricity distribution services for the east of England, London and the south-east.

SHOCKED staff at EDF Energy in Ipswich today spoke of their sadness after the sudden death of company managing director Alan Carey.

Mr Carey was MD of Power Networks at EDF Energy which deals with electricity distribution services for the east of England, London and the south-east.

Claire Byrd, spokeswoman for EDF Energy in Fore Hamlet, said: "Very sadly Alan Carey died in hospital during the night on Monday.

"Alan was a much-loved and highly-respected colleague who will be very sorely missed. He had worked in the industry for 40 years."

Mr Carey was in his late 50s.

He faced difficult times when, as the managing director of the company that ran the power distribution networks in the east of England, London and the south-east, storm damage in October 2002 left more than 300,000 households in East Anglia without electricity.

The disruption was compounded by an enormous blip in the telephone system, which left customers believing their power failure had been logged when it had not.

Mr Carey, a former mayor of Croydon, made of point of facing the ensuing storm of complaints and ordered a massive overhaul of the way the staff handled emergencies.

He also oversaw the renaming of the company when it became EDF Energy in June last year.

Mr Carey worked in the electricity supply industry for 39 years and had climbed the ranks from apprentice engineer to become operations director of Seeboard Power Networks before taking up his role in October 2002.

Mr Carey lived in Kenley, south of Croydon. He covered a vast patch in his job and visited Ipswich a couple of times a week.

He was married to Wendy and had two children – James and Amanda.