Ratby: Gas supplies returning to homes after major incident

Cadent engineers have been pumping large volumes of water from gas pipes daily

Gas supplies have been restored to about 1,400 homes in Leicestershire villages that have been without heating for several days.

More than 2,500 homes in Ratby and Kirby Muxloe were cut off on Tuesday when a gas pipe was flooded by a burst water main.

The outage triggered a major incident, declared to support residents.

Gas company Cadent is continuing to work to reconnect hundreds of properties still without gas.

The firm has so far flushed 60,000 litres (13,198 gallons) of water from gas pipes in the area so it can start restoring supplies.

In an update on Saturday, Cadent said it had about 200 engineers working in the villages.

A Cadent spokesperson thanked residents for their support and patience, adding: "We know we have at least half of the total impacted properties back on gas already, and that number should rise significantly today [Saturday]."

Cadent said its support staff would remain at Ratby until at least Monday to help residents.