An explosion in High Street , Burton Latimer , early yesterday morning blew a hole in a heavy cast-iron cover and blackened brickwork on a nearby wall.  It happened at about 9.20 a.m. in an underground electrical link disconnecting box.

The blast lifted the cover from the pavement.

Electricity supplies were cut off to houses in Pioneer Avenue and parts of the High Street , Burton Latimer , until about 2 p.m.

A spokesman for the East Midland Electricity Board at Kettering said today that this type of explosion “very, very seldom occurred”.

“It would have been quite a big bang.” he said.

Burton Latimer Fire Brigade were called out to stand by while engineers made temporary repairs to the box.