The there was an early alarm call for Lincolnshire Echo journalists after a power cut caused major production problems for the paper.

Staff at the Echo were called into work at 5am on Tuesday after a power cut the night before left them unable to work on its first edition.

The power went down at the Echo offices at 4.35pm on Monday afternoon, and after an editorial meeting staff were sent home early.

Deputy editor Richard Bowyer said: "The whole system went down meaning reporters couldn't write stories and the designers couldn't do anything.

"We were told the power could be off for up to ten hours so we made the decision for staff to leave – there was no point everyone sitting up here not doing anything.

"We sent a team out to cover the power cut which affected 12,639 homes and businesses in Lincolnshire.

"All the shorts were done for the Tuesday but no leads were finished so everyone writing leads had to come in between 4.30am and 5am.

"We had a conference at 5am and then it was all hands to the pump. It was a fantastic team effort from everyone involved."

Richard said the power came back on at 6.45pm on Monday evening but by that time all staff had gone home and the paper decided to go ahead with its contingency plan.

He said: "We got a generator in just in case the power didn't come back on. You just don't know in Lincolnshire, there are a lot of overhead cables.

"We had a big breakfast at 8am with bacon butties all around. They were well deserved!"