Telephone lines in Hailsham reconnected

Thousands of BT customers in Sussex on Wednesday had their telephone and internet services disrupted by a power outage.

Services across Eastbourne, Polegate, Hailsham and some parts of Brighton were affected by a power cut in the Eastbourne telephone exchange causing the landline outage from 9am. The lines were restored late-afternoon.

Lines to three hospitals in Sussex were among those affected, as were some 20,000 customers across the county

BT said power had been restored to the exchange and services were expected to resume again by 3pm.

Lines to the Royal Sussex County Hospital, the Queen Alexandra Children's Hospital and the Eastbourne District General Hospital were among those affected as well as schools in the area.

Sussex Police advised: If you have a serious emergency, you should first try both landline and mobile telephones to call '999'.

If this does not work flag down any emergency service vehicle that is not using their blue lights, or go to the nearest police station, hospital or fire station to report the emergency.