Power surge shuts Bradley Stoke Tesco Extra store for six hours

People queuing outside the Tesco Extra store in Bradley Stoke after it was was closed due to problems with electrical equipment following a power cut.

An electrical “power surge” caused computer systems to crash at the Tesco Extra store in Bradley Stoke today, resulting in the store being closed to customers for more than six hours.

The Journal understands that tills and other electronic equipment at the store “went down” as a result of the power supply incident and subsequently failed to reset themselves correctly.

Journal readers reported on our Facebook page shortly after 11am that customers were being turned away from the store, with staff informing them that the tills weren’t working.

A message on the Willow Brook Centre’s Twitter feed at 12.17pm, in response to a query from a customer, read:

“Hi, there has been a power surge locally, Tesco have had to close to reset some systems. Other stores still open.”

Cash dispenser machines (ATMs) and the nearby Tesco petrol filling station were also affected by the incident.

Some other stores at the Willow Brook Centre are believed to have also been affected, but their computer systems recovered quickly and they were able to continue trading within minutes.

Comments by readers on our Facebook page suggest that the power surge was experienced across Bristol with (unverified) reports of computer systems being affected at Asda Cribbs Causeway, Parkway Station and Cabot Circus.

The Tesco Extra store had all but one of its shutters down for the entire afternoon. Shortly before 1pm, security staff were telling customers that it might be “one or two hours” before the store would re-open.

Eventually, at around 5.20pm, an announcement over the store’s loudspeaker system called staff back to the tills and customers were allowed to enter the store again from around 5.30pm.

The Tesco filling station re-opened at about 5.40pm.

Photo: Customers queuing outside the closed store at around 1pm.

Related links: Facebook posts #1, #2, #3

The Tesco petrol filling station in Bradley Stoke was closed due to problems with electrical equipment following a power cut.

Photo: The Tesco petrol filling station also closed for more than six hours.

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3 comments

  1. A spokesperson at Western Power Distribution spokesperson told The Journal:

    “On Wednesday 14th January, we had a dip on the electricity network which caused some auto reclose on the system.”

    “We understand this may have created the need for Tesco to reboot their system which it then transpires this caused them further internal problems that were not network related.”

    “Our domestic customers may have noticed a dip in supply which may have caused lights to flicker. We have no reports of anyone losing power in the area.”

  2. A Tesco spokesman said:

    “There was a problem on the network last Wednesday that resulted in a loss of power at our Bradley Stoke Extra store.”

    “We apologise for the inconvenience that may have been caused to our customers. We wanted to make sure the store was safe for use and by the afternoon it was trading as normal”.

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