A power outage hit 4,246 households and forced shops to close in Harrogate this morning.
The outage affected homes around Otley Road and Leeds Road, as well as businesses in the Oatlands and Harlow Hill areas.
While Northern Powergrid said it only lasted for 10 minutes, customers reported problems for around half an hour from 10am onwards.
Both M&S Food and the Co-op in the Oatlands area had to ask customers to leave when their lights, fridges and automatic doors stopped working. Other shops in the area also closed during the outage.
Traffic lights and pedestrian crossings were also reported to have been affected by the power cut.
A spokesperson for Northern Powergrid said:
“Everything is completely back on now. We don’t know what caused it, but we have transferred customers onto a healthier part of the network and our engineers are investigating.”
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Person injured at Bettys crossing in Harrogate
A person required medical assistance at lunchtime today after an incident at the crossing outside Bettys in Harrogate.
Paramedics covered the injured person in blankets and administered first aid until an ambulance arrived at about 2pm.
The person was lying on the ground near the traffic lights on the opposite side to Bettys.
Traffic on Parliament Street was diverted into a single lane while help was administered.
The Stray Ferret has asked Yorkshire Ambulance Service for further details.
The crossing outside Bettys has been the scene of numerous incidents involving pedestrians and traffic over the years.
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Harrogate disability charity explains why some crossings don’t beep
Harrogate-based charity Disability Action Yorkshire has explained why many pedestrian crossings in Harrogate town centre do not make a beeping sound to let blind or visually impaired people know it is safe to cross.
It follows a Stray Ferret article published on Saturday about Harrogate man John Raho, 80, who relies on the noise to help him cross the road safely when vehicles stop and the green man appears.
But from the top of Cheltenham Parade up Station Parade and to the Victoria Avenue junction, 9 out of 10 crossings did not make any noise at all, which Mr Raho said was ‘shameful’.
Mr Raho received some messages of support on social media from people who named other pedestrian crossings in the district where they would like to hear a beeping noise.
Could be confusing
Disability Action Yorkshire was founded 84 years ago and helps disabled people live the life of their choosing.
It has headquarters and a training centre on Hornbeam Park, a residential care home on Claro Road, and a holiday lodge in Lincolnshire.
Its chief executive Jackie Snape said she sympathised with Mr Raho’s plight but said having too many crossings making the noise could be confusing.
Ms Snape said:
“[Crossings that don’t beep] is something we hear quite a lot but I do fully understand the reasons.
“It’s where there are two or three crossings close to each other. People could get confused and walk into the roads.”
Jackie Snape, Disability Action Yorkshire chief executive.
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Ms Snape said there needed to be greater awareness that crossings that don’t beep have a small cone underneath that can be touched. The cone turns when the green man lights up to indicate it is safe to cross.
But she added that since covid, many people did not feel comfortable touching it.
Many crossings have a plastic cone underneath that turns when it is safe to cross
Victoria Avenue junction
Whilst Ms Snape said it would be confusing to have too many crossings on Station Parade making the beeping noise, the silent crossing at the Victoria Avenue junction “needs looking at” because it wasn’t in close proximity to other crossings.
She said crossings like this should be reported to North Yorkshire County Council through its website.
Ms Snape said:
“We’ve reported machines in the past when they have stopped working. Unless they are reported, the council does not know they are not working properly.”
Ms Snape added that if any blind or partially sighted person would like to report a crossing that does not make a beeping noise, the charity can do it on their behalf through its website or by calling 01423 855419.