There was chaos on the roads and railways as a massive power cut hit Dorset early this afternoon, causing traffic lights and rail lines to fail. 

The outage was the result of a technical fault at the National Grid's Chickerell substation.

See tomorrow's Dorset Echo for a full report, including pictures and local reactions. 

A spokesperson for the National Grid said 50,000 customers were affected in South and West Dorset, resulting in huge disruption to residents and workers.

Traffic signals failed in Weymouth, Portland, Dorchester, Lyme Regis and Bridport, causing disruption on the roads.

Travel Dorset advised people to use the Highway Code.

All trains were at a standstill between Wool and Weymouth due to loss of power on the lines, but they are now back up and running.

There still are delays of up to 30 minutes on South West Trains between Weymouth and Wool, as well as between Yeovil Pen Mill and Weymouth on Great Western Railway.

Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue reported that people were left stuck in lifts and multiple alarms went off.  

Someone who was on the Weymouth Sealife Tower when the power cut struck said the machinery stopped working and they were stuck. 

Paul Clements said: "Stuck up Tower. Power cut - nice view!"

Dorset Councils said borough council offices at South Walks House will be closed for the rest of the day.

During the outage, Dorset County Council said it had a generator and their phones were working, but they asked people to bear with them.

The National Grid confirmed that the cause of the outage was a transmission fault, rather than a distribution fault of SSE electricity board. 

A spokesperson for the National Grid said: "We are aware of a technical fault at Chickerell substation today, resulting in the temporary loss of power in the Weymouth area.

"We can confirm power was restored at 1.32pm. An investigation has been launched to understand why this happened and we apologise for the inconvenience this has caused."

More to follow.