switch off

After the Games and last year's Worlds, where she defended her individual sprint title and won team sprint gold, she flew to Perth, Australia, with Richardson for two months for a "complete switch-off".

"I don't think so," he replied when asked about the switch-off at 24-5.

"Every start and switch-off of the engine counts as one cycle," he explained.

The switch-off will begin on a smaller scale, and affected homes and businesses will be contacted by suppliers "well ahead of time", the energy department said.

Fuel poverty campaigners said the switch-off process had been "doomed to failure" after it became clear that the 30 June deadline was "simply unachievable".