Locksbottom homes still without gas after five days (From News Shopper)

Locksbottom homes still without gas after five days

1:07pm Thursday 3rd January 2013 in News By Patrick Grafton-Green

AROUND 700 homes in Locksbottom remain without gas five days after a burst water main wreaked havoc with the area's gas supply.

Southern Gas Networks (SGN) has reconnected 950 of the 1,650 homes affected, having extracted 95,000 litres of water from gas pipes.

The water main, located in Crofton Road, burst on Christmas Eve, causing water to leak into gas pipes.

Local residents have been without gas since December 30.

Maurice Childs, 65, lives in Crofton Road, and has still not had his gas reconnected.

He has had heart and cancer surgery in the last three years and said: "We have been helped in no small part by the very mild weather luckily because I do feel the cold a lot."

A spokesperson for SGN said: "Although we are progressing well, there is still a good deal of work to be done in order to get everybody reconnected. Our teams of engineers are doing their utmost to restore the gas supplies as quickly as possible."

A spokesperson for Thames Water said: "We are very sorry to everyone who has been affected. We are working with SGN to correct the problem."

Although those affected are encouraged to contact SGN with any problems there have been complaints over the lack of communication from both SNG and Thames Water.

The SGN customer service line is 08450 701431.

Anyone with any concerns about gas safety should call the national gas emergency number on 0800 111999.