Residents in a north Watford street said the last 10 weeks have been like "living in a third world country" after a series of power cuts.

Denis Calnan, from Yarmouth Road, said the power went out on February 21 and had been going on and off ever since.

The situation is so bad that UK Power Networks has been forced to install a generator at the end of the road while repairs are carries out.

Mr Calnan said: "The power went out just under a fortnight ago. It came back on but then kept going on and off. They said it was so serious they would have to dig up the main road.

"The generator keeps breaking down but the power company thinks people are turning it off. They have had to put a security guard there to watch it.

"It’s been like living in a third world country."

Mr Calnan said the cuts had come every day and lasted up to three hours.

He added: "There are daily power cuts, the contents of the freezer has had to be thrown out, it’s been a giant pain.

"UK Power Networks have been a joke. They are claiming they needed permission from the council to dig up the road but where they are doing the work is on a pavement.

"I’m sick of phoning them up."

John Lang, UK Power Networks representative, said the company wanted to apologise to the 63 customers in Yarmouth Road who had interruptions to their power supply.

He added "Following a fault on an underground electricity cable on February 21 a generator has been used to maintain electricity supplies while repairs continued in the area.

"Regrettably there have been problems with this temporary arrangement which has resulted in some further power interruptions.

"We understand how frustrating this must have been and have reconnected supplies as quickly as possible.

"Repairs are continuing in the area and our engineers are working as hard as they can to get customers back on mains supply soon."