Families' fury as sinkhole disrupts electricity supply in Sunderland street

Subsidence led to a semi-detached house in the street falling a foot into the ground in August this year. It has been left damaged with the driveway and wall sunken below street level.

Since then, dozens of homes on and around the city’s Broomshields Avenue have had to be powered by a generator.

The electricity cable supplying power to homes had to be disconnected, and a generator is being used to power some houses in the street and those nearby.

A Northern Powergrid spokesperson confirmed to the Echo that around 40 residents in the SR5 postcode area of Sunderland were being powered by a generator, with some “technical issues” affecting their homes.

On Monday, October 7, Northern Powergrid officers visited Broomshields Avenue to answer questions and reassure families that they do not expect any further disruption for those living in the affected properties.

Families in the street have expressed their anger.

One resident, who didn’t want to be named, said: “This has been going on for weeks now. It was going off every day and then last Sunday it went off in the morning and they came and did something to the generator and it went off again in the afternoon.

“We’ve got an electric oven and it’s just totally unprofessional and its causing so many problems.

“Reasonable people live on this street and they’re just getting a terrible service.”

Another resident added: “So many people have been looking at it but no one seems to have done anything. We haven’t had any problems but we’ve seen the street lights going off.

Another homeowner on the street said: “If you’ve got little ones and your powers going off every night, it’s not on. This road has sunk a few times over the years.”

A Northern Powergrid spokesperson said: "We would like to thank everyone affected by the recent issues and reassure them that we will do everything possible to replace the electricity cable as quickly as we can."