Gas fault in Witham leaves hundreds without supply

Engineers arrived back on site on Friday morning

About 600 homes were left without gas after mains supplies were switched off because of a fault.

The supplier Cadent turned off the gas to the properties in Witham, Essex, and sent about 30 engineers to the site on Thursday evening.

The company said on Friday gas had been restored to 60 properties and it expected 100 homes to be reconnected before Saturday.

About 25 roads in the King Edward Way area have been affected.

It is not yet known what caused the incident and the company has been unable to say how long it might take to fix.

Audrey Barnes said a Cadent staff member had brought an electric grill to her home so she could cook

Audrey Barnes is one of many people struggling without gas for heating.

She has an immersion heater so still has hot water but without heating she said she was "freezing."

A Cadent representative visited her home on Thursday night.

"They don't know when it's going to be put back on again - it could take two or three days," she said.

She was given a grill to cook on until the problem is resolved.

Stanley Turner, 81, noticed his boiler showed a fault when he woke up on Friday

Resident Stanley Turner, 81, has been left without any gas for heating or hot water.

He did not realise the gas was off when he went to bed on Thursday night, but heard reports on BBC Essex when he switched on his radio.

"I've got no hot water and no heating," he said.

"But at this time of the year I don't need the heating on, anyway - but hot water, well you need hot water constantly all day long, don't you?"

Stanley Turner's boiler showed a fault as the gas had been turned off at the mains

In a statement, a Cadent spokesman said: "Yesterday (Thursday 13 April) Cadent was made aware of a loss of gas to a number of properties in the King Edward Way area of Witham, Essex.

"Engineers were immediately mobilised to go to site and investigate the matter further.

"Last night, around 30 of our team attended the incident and began working to resolve the matter, as well as visiting around a third of the affected properties.

"Work ended for the night at around 10.30pm when we took the decision that residents would not want to answer their door past this time."

The Cadent spokesman added: "We urge residents not to attempt to turn their gas back on themselves, our engineers need to do this safely for them."

He thanked people for their understanding and said the company was working "as quickly as possible" to resolve the issue.

The roads have been dug up in several areas

Kate Grant said support services had been put in place for residents affected by the loss of gas

Kate Grant, Cadent's network director for the East of England, said: At this stage we don't know what the root cause of the loss of gas is."

She said every property had to be accessed to "safely isolate" customers' supplies.

Speaking on Friday morning, she said more than 60 engineers and support staff were on site.

She said vulnerable customers on their register would have been contacted and offered heating and cooking facilities.

Two customer support areas have been set up on the estate.

Residents were seen queuing for a burger van during the disruption

"We've set up a mobile welfare unit on Allectus Way - customers can go there to get more information or cooking and heating facilities.

"We also have an agreement with Witham leisure centre - we have customer liaison officers there as well. Customers can go there and get hot showers."

Ms Grant said food trucks would also be on site "today and tomorrow [Saturday] from 12:00 in the day".

"We are working on a phased recovery plan and hoping that we should see people starting to come back on gas today."

However, work was likely to continue "for days", she said.

More than 20 roads in the area of Witham are believed to be without gas