The owner of Yarmouth's Hippodrome Circus last night hit out at energy supplier EDF Energy after having to abort one summer show and cancel another because of a power failure.

The owner of Yarmouth's Hippodrome Circus last night hit out at energy supplier EDF Energy after having to abort one summer show and cancel another because of a power failure.

Lights went out along a stretch of the resort's busy Marine Parade at about 3.30pm yesterday, just before the circus interval as star Brazilian springboard act the Romeiro Troupe was about to attempt its triple somersault.

A full house of 800 people was told the show was being cancelled and offered the chance of a refund or tickets to another performance. The show's 7.30pm performance also had to be cancelled.

Peter Jay, in the middle of his 30th anniversary circus run, said: 'This is the second time this has happened. We had to cancel Friday evening's show after the lights went out earlier that afternoon.

'In the event, they came back on at 7.35pm and we would have been able to go ahead with the show a few minutes late. But I could get no satisfactory response when I kept calling EDF Energy and we could not take the risk.

'This is unacceptable. This is the middle of the season when people need to be making their money. It makes us look like a Third World country.'

Mr Jay said the circus had a back-up lighting system but it was not good enough to continue with the show.

'Although we offered a refund, most people were enjoying it so much they have opted to come to another show,' he said.

Mr Jay was hoping the fault would be fixed in time for today's performances. He said it had cost his business several thousand pounds, and that he was considering hiring a generator in case of further problems.

An EDF Energy spokesman said: 'Power was isolated to two customers in King Street, Great Yarmouth at 1.09am on Saturday in order for EDF Energy Networks engineers to carry out repair work to a piece of substation equipment which had developed a fault.

'This was not connected to the interruption to power on Friday which was caused by a fault on an underground cable. Power to both customers was restored at 1.29am and we would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.

'Regrettably, power was interrupted to some customers in the Marine Parade area at 3.47pm on Wednesday and EDF Energy Networks engineers are currently on site investigating the cause.'