THIEVES left thousands of homes without power for the second time in a fortnight after stealing overhead power lines and endangered lives by leaving an 11,000-volt live cable lying on the ground.

Now a reward of £1,000 is being offered for information about the culprits who removed more than 300 metres of cable on Thursday evening. The location was also targeted on November 24.

Power distribution company Northern Powergrid is now working in partnership with the charity Crimestoppers to offer the reward for any information which helps lead to the arrest and charging of the thieves.

Homes and businesses west of Stockton were left without heat or light and even lighting on the A66 was cut on Thursday, the second lengthy power cut in a fortnight. The electricity was off from 6.45pm until gone midnight.

Northern Powergrid is appealing to residents who saw suspicious activity on either Thursday, December 4, or November 24, in the Bishopsgarth area, where Letch Lane meets Harrowgate Lane.

Both incidents took place at about 6.40pm and it is believed thieves used quad-bikes, as fresh tyre tracks were left in the field.

Nigel Walker, Northern Powergrid’s vulnerable assets manager, said: “These two incidents are just the latest in a series of incidents within a five mile area since June and we suspect the same thieves are responsible.

"The thieves don’t care about the lives they’re endangering or local communities they are affecting. In the latest incident the thieves left live cables, carrying 11,000 volts of electricity, on the ground which if a member of public were to have even come close to them they could have been electrocuted."

Two hundred metres of cable was stolen on Thursday, and 100 metres on November 24.

Broadcaster Mark Page, who lives just outside Hartburn, Stockton said: "We see this all too often. A lengthy power cut for several hours. This is also the third outage we've had since summer and hit at a time when most people would be about to prepare a meal."

Thieves risk their own lives by cutting live electrical wires to steal the copper cable inside them.

Anyone with any information should call police on 0845-6060-247 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800-555-111.