Ayr was plunged into chaos this evening after a huge power cut affected thousands of homes and businesses.
High Street shops were forced to shut down early whilst restaurants were left in darkness as the major outage struck around 4pm. Marks and Spencer's were among the shops which had to close their doors with shoppers told to ditch their trolleys at 5pm.
Meanwhile, top eateries in the town were left having to cancel bookings and shut down kitchens after being left offline for hours. Traffic light failures were also flagged across the town, with motorists being warned of light outages across the town.
The essential traffic light system at Whitletts Roundabout was left cut off, with motorists being warned to take care at the major road junction.
And customers have been spotted standing outside tattoo parlours and hairdressers, with operations at key businesses grinding to a halt.
One eyewitness told Ayrshire Live: "It is complete chaos. The whole town has just instantly had to shut down. Everywhere just stopped. Hairdressers were left without power. I was in Marks & Spencer's and customers were being turned away at the till. All the lights just went off, the fridges were completely off as well."
The power cut swept across the KA6, KA7, KA8 & KA18, leaving thousands without power just before tea time.
All Warriors Gym announced they had to close their doors, with all female the Limeklin Road gym making the announcement at 5.30pm today.
Popular Carrick Road diner, The Fox & Willow, announced they were unable to serve hot food as they apologised for the inconvenience. Stagecoach bosses told how there could be a delay to some bus services in and around Ayr as a result of the traffic light failures.
And NHS Ayrshire & Arran also warned that the power cut was affecting some healthcare services in the affected postcodes. But the health board insisted that hospitals remained switched on.
A spokesperson for NHS Ayrshire & Arran said: "Scottish Power have advised of a power outage affecting healthcare services in KA7, KA8 & KA18 postcode areas.
"If you require medical attention at this time please call NHS24 on 111 and for all life threatening emergencies dial 999. Hospital services remain unaffected."
Power was starting to return as of 7pm.
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