UK power operator says 'no malicious intent' behind mass blackout

National Grid, which runs Britain's power network, said Saturday it was confident of "no malicious intent" behind a major outage Friday that hit nearly one million people and caused travel chaos.

The company has blamed the blackouts, that left more than 900,000 customers without power for several hours and transport systems reeling, on the loss of two generators in quick succession.

It has vowed to "learn any lessons" from what it described as an "unexpected and unusual event", which saw evening commuters stranded on trains, traffic lights failing and homes plunged into darkness.

"We are already very confident that there was no malicious intent or cyber attack involved," National Grid director of operations Duncan Burt told the BBC.

"This will require careful study to make sure that we do learn any lessons that come out of it and that the next time this happens disruption is minimised."
"This could include enforcement action."