SHOPS and businesses across Blackburn town centre were forced to close early today after a power failure hit the town.

Technical difficulties with an underground power cable led to black-outs at Blackburn Cathedral and The Mall as well as other locations.

In total 39 properties, mainly commercial, were affected throughout the day after the power cuts began at 9.30am.

This afternoon engineers were still working to solve the problems.

A service to celebrate the contribution of Land Girls during the Second World War at Blackburn Cathedral was interrupted when the lights went out 10 minutes before the end of the ceremony at around 2pm.

And shoppers in Blackburn town centre were turned away from The Mall at 2.30pm because of the power cuts.

At 3pm, an hour before the shopping centre was due to close, shopkeepers were ordered to bring down the shutters and it was closed for the day.

Security personnel at The Mall told shoppers that because many of the stores were without power it was not safe to allow people into other stores.

Large numbers of people in town at the time were turned away from the shops.

Engineers from United Utilities said the fault had caused sporadic cuts in power at addresses in Exchange Street, New Market Street and Richmond Terrace.

Teams of workers were sent to the town in the morning but were still working to discover the cause of the problem.

A spokesman for United Utilities said: “Three streets have been affected by the problems and we are working very hard to solve them.

“We are extremely sorry for any inconvenience that has been caused by this incident.”