ENERGY chiefs felt the heat yesterday after blaming the Storm Arwen power-cut crisis on the wrong type of wind.
More than 150,000 households were without heating or electricity for up to 11 days.
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Energy chiefs felt the heat after bizarrely blaming the power-cut crisis on the wrong type of wind Credit: Getty
But industry bosses offered no apology to MPs — instead saying trees which downed power lines had been hit from a surprise direction.
As new, 80mph Storm Barra battered the country last night, one freezing pub landlady scoffed: “The wind blows from every direction.
"That’s what wind does.”
Paul McGimpsey, director of regulation at the Energy Networks Association, told MPs: “The wind came in a north- easterly direction.
"It’s not the prevailing wind that you would expect and as such trees fell differently on to the lines.”
Startled Labour MP Darren Jones, chairman of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, replied: “Can I check I’m hearing this right?”
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Mr McGimpsey admitted there were “lessons to be learned”.
He was slammed by Debbie Noble, 48, whose pub in Rothbury, Northumberland, had no power for four days.
She said: “If we can only protect our lines from breaking when the wind blows in a certain direction, then we have a bit of a problem.”
The PM called the response “unacceptable”, and wants better resilience against storms.
In 1991, British Rail famously blamed train disruption on a “different kind of snow”.
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An energy boss offered no apology when grilled by MPs and said trees downed power lines from a surprise direction Credit: Apex 4
Caravans at Berwick Holiday Park in Berwick-upon-Tweed were destroyed and blown into the sea by Storm Arwen Credit: SWNS 4
The storm left 150,000 households without heating or electricity for up to 11 days - pictured damaged power lines in Teesdale, Durham Credit: Getty
UK snow forecast EIGHT INCHES to hit as 80mph Storm Barra sparks blizzards chaos, Met Office warns
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