HUNDREDS of city pupils were sent home from a South Side school and nursery today after a fire at a power junction box in a nearby street.

Merrylee Primary School, which has almost 400 children, was closed this morning because the building was left with no heating or electricity.

Youngsters who attend Lime Tree Nursery, also in Friarton Road, have been sent home for the day, and around 80 homes in the Newlands area were also hit by the underground cable problem at an electric junction box in Friarton Road.

A Glasgow-wide football festival, which was due to take place at Merrylee Primary today, has been cancelled.

Firefighters were called out after smoke was spotted from a cable running into an electrical junction box at around 6.30am today.

A spokesman for Strathclyde Fire and Rescue, said: "Firefighters attended an incident at Merrylee Primary School, where an electrical junction box on the street outside the school's grounds was well alight.

"Our Castlemilk staff quickly put out the fire with dry powder extinguishers before handing over to Scottish Power."

Engineers were today working to repair the cable fault at the junction box and restore power to those still affected.

Glasgow City Council confirmed the school and nursery will remain closed today as they have no electricity as a result of the fault.

A spokeswoman added: "Merrylee primary and Lime Tree nursery closed today, but are expected to re-open tomorrow as normal.

"We are making made efforts to inform parents of pupils about the closure."

ScottishPower said it was making every effort to restore affected customers as soon as possible, and hoped that this could be achieved by this afternoon.

A spokeswoman said: "We apologise to customers for any inconvenience."