TRADERS say they have lost out on business because of weeks of power cuts.

A dozen properties, including a restaurant, a hairdressing salon and many shops, have all suffered from power cuts in Waterloo Walk and parts of High Street, in Witney.

They have lost electricity six times since January 1.

Southern Electric said this week that the fault had now been fixed.

But Lucie Eadon, owner of Curl Up and Dye, in Waterloo Walk, has had to cancel about 42 appointments, due to lack of electricity.

She said: “As a hair salon owner, not only is this affecting my business, but it is also putting my clients health at risk, as we use chemical dyes. I know that those affected in the walkway are really feeling the affect economically.

“At the end of the day, we are trying to hold our head above the water.

“In the current economic climate, for small businesses to have to endure this, it’s a bit of a kick in the groin.

“It’s horrible to tell your clients that you have to cancel their appointment, or you have a client sitting there with a full head of bleach.”

She added: “Even though some of the shops are not affected, it does affect them as the lights in the walk go out, and it looks like the whole walkway is closed.”

Ciro Vitello, manager of Da Vinci restaurant, in Waterloo Walk, said: “When the power goes out while we are working, the customers that are here leave — we lose customers because of this.”

Shopkeepers claim that the loss of power has resulted in loss of business, as they have had to shut up shop.

Amy Harbod, of Harbod Jewels, said: “It’s been terrible really as once the power goes out, that’s the lights and the heat.

“One of the earlier times it happened, it was snowing, and it went off at 10.30am.

“Once the lights go off customers don’t come in, so we lose out on trade. Even if you do want to sell something, the till and card machine doesn’t work.”

She claimed some power cuts had lasted up to five hours.

Mike Hall, of the Music Stand, added: “We can’t trade while our heating doesn’t work, and it has been quite cold, we have had to go home.”

Southern Electric spokesman, Sharon Miller-Mackenzie, said that the problem had been fixed on Thursday.

She said: “It’s an underground cable fault, and that makes it very difficult to pinpoint exactly where the fault is, but we have managed to find it.”

She said that engineers had been called out three times, but that three other intermittent faults, where power was lost for a few minutes, had also occurred.