Households in Greenock were left without power during the night after a mystery crack opened up in the ground

Supplies were affected in the Larkfield area after the problem surfaced on Monday night.

There were reports of a 'crack in the ground with steam coming out of it', triggering an alert to the emergency services.

A team from Scottish Power was eventually called to the scene and identified the problem as an underground cable fault, with workers carrying out repairs.

Firefighters were initially called to Burns Square just before 8pm and found steam coming from a gap in the ground.

Scottish Power were called to the scene and workers had to take a handful of customers off the power supply while the problem was fixed.

A spokeswoman for Scottish Power told the Telegraph: “Just before 1am on Tuesday we had to take off a handful of customers to carry out repairs to an underground cable fault.

"Power was restored at 4am.

“We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

Police also attended at the scene to ensure there was no concern to public or property.

Officers were stood down at 9pm.

An area around the crack remained cordoned off yesterday to allow Scottish Power staff to complete their work and tidy up.