A BIRD has been blamed for the power failure which plunged over 2,000 homes and businesses in Falmouth into darkness on Monday lunchtime.

Households in the Golden Bank area, Boslowick Road to Queen Anne Gardens as well as companies off Bickland Water Road, were left without power for up to 20 minutes.

A bird flew into a pole-mounted transformer near Swanpool and "clipped" the wires according to Western Power Distribution spokesperson Irene Hucker.

The failure reached as far as the industrial estates off Bickland Water Road and businesses and factories were left without electricity, including the Packet's own offices. Burglar alarms were set off in businesses, many being unoccupied having closed for the Christmas break.

Miss Hucker said that the situation could have taken much longer to resolve had a customer in Golden Bank not witnessed the faulty transformer and telephoned Western Power.

"We are very grateful to whoever it was that contacted us. Thanks to them we were able to get to the fault quickly. Most customers' electricity was restored almost immediately, but some were without electricity for 20 minutes," she said.

"We sorted the fault as quickly as possible and apologise for any inconvenience," Miss Hucker added.