SHOPPERS descended into outcry as major supermarkets experienced power outage.

Confusion swept Barrow’s Walney Road Retail Park as shoppers discovered the complex had experienced a blackout.

Bosses at Asda, Argos, Home Bargains, Matalan and Pound Stretcher were forced to close their doors early after they lost power at 3.10pm yesterday afternoon.

A spokesman at Asda left a note on the door, which read: “Sorry closed due to no power. Sorry for any inconvenience.”

Sara Benton, a disgruntled shopper, said: “I was in there and next minute the lights went out and the tannoy said will you please vacate the supermarket.”

Paula Goodwin, another irritated customer, said: “I believe it could be from the roadworks going on around Tesco.

“I have to wait for my next bus now which is going to be another half an hour.”

One woman expressed her outrage at having to attend Aldi instead of her usual supermarket.

Hindpool Road shops: Tesco, Pets At Home and Iceland equally suffered a power outage around 3pm yesterday.

Customer,Jill Balsborough,was shopping in Barrow’s Tesco store during the blackout.

She said: “The lights just flashed off and went straight back on but all the tills had gone down.

“Although it was only for a few minutes, I couldn’t really carry on with my shopping.”

An Electricity North West spokesman said everything was done to correct the fault as soon as possible.

He said: “83 customers were left without power.

“Staff were on site as soon as possible working to a restoration time of approximately 5pm.”

An underground cable fault was said to be the cause and power was restored to the shopping complex by 4.10pm.

A spokesman said it was not related to ongoing works at North Road and all stores reopened.