A POWER cut which finished just ten minutes after lessons were due to start has left parents frantically making babysitting arrangements for children whose school decided to close.

Parents and children were turned away from the gates of Epping Primary School, in Coronation Hill, Epping, by head teacher Tracy O’Donnell when they turned up around 8.45am today.

The school cited “possible future health and safety issues” for the closure, but parents forced to take the day off work or seek last-minute babysitters are angered by the decision taken after a two hour power cut started at around 7am.

Ian Ryall, who has two children at the school, said: “It’s frustrating for us. Lucklily I work at home so it’s less of a problem but most people travel for work and the school has let them down.

“It’s a modern school with solar panels and is environmentally friendly but they’re saying the electricity failure means the school can’t function.”

Mr Ryall, 37, said the school listed an inoperable fire alarm as a health and safety issue, along with the danger that toilets may not flush and claimed that school dinners stored in fridges and freezers would no longer be fresh.

However, the message on the school’s answering phone cites the time as 9.27am, when power came back on at around 9.10am.

No other schools in the area contacted by the Guardian have closed, though several said they were not affected by the electrical malfunction.