Stannington: Homes without gas as cold as Iceland, say residents

Mary Aston, left, and friend Marie Hallam have been using an electric heater and blanket to stay warm

After nearly 2,000 homes in Stannington, in Sheffield, were left without gas when a burst water main flooded the network six days ago, the BBC has been out to speak to some of those affected.

As Josh tucked his four-year-old son into bed on Tuesday night, he wrapped him in five quilts. By midnight he said the house felt "as cold as Iceland" and he spent an hour with a tiny electric heater trying to warm the boy's room.

"Still that wasn't enough," he said. "He woke up at half five this morning, crying, cold. What more can we do?"

The council maisonette where the 30-year-old lives with his girlfriend and two children is one of about 2,000 properties in Sheffield affected. On Wednesday, with overnight temperatures of -3C forecast, up to 1,500 homes between Stannington and Hillsborough were still without heating or hot water.

"It's so cold it's like you're outside at night. It's crazy," he said. "It's two weeks from Christmas, the coldest time of the year. My son is poorly. I'm angry. The local authorities need to start answering questions."

Distributor Cadent Gas has sent in more than 100 engineers who have pumped out more than 600,000 litres of water, but Sheffield Council leader Terry Fox said on Wednesday it could be "at least until the end of the week, maybe longer" before supply is restored to everyone.

The authority has declared a major incident and the Red Cross has been visiting homes to check on vulnerable residents. Cadent has been handing out electrical appliances, including heaters, hobs and blankets, and says residents will be compensated for the cost of using them.

But Josh said his family was allowed only one small heater due to fears a surge of electricity usage in the area could overload the network and cause blackouts.

Edna Jones is recovering from cancer and said the loss of heating had been "horrendous"

Three doors down, his elderly neighbour, Edna Jones, sits on an electric blanket trying to stay warm. The grandmother, 78, is recovering from bowel cancer and says chemotherapy had already left her "always feeling cold".

"And now we've got this," she said. "It's been horrendous. My hands are always purple now. I need heat. The bedroom is freezing. You can't leave the heater on all day in there. You've just got to grin and bear it and hope it's over soon."

Her son, Tim Jones, who has been staying with his mother to look after her, says he is "deeply concerned for her welfare".

Like many in Stannington, they woke up on a "freezing" Saturday morning to find they could not turn their heating or oven on.

For others, the first sign of the gas problems was more dramatic. Some residents' kitchens were flooded by water "gushing out of cookers," while one posted a video of water leaking from a gas meter.

'Explosion of flame'

Mary Aston said she heard a "really loud hissing noise" in her kitchen on Friday night and realised gas was "just whooshing out" from her hob.

"I sort of panicked and did something really stupid - I tried to turn it off and turned the nob which works the central ring - and of course it all just exploded and went up in a big ball of flame," she recalls, sitting by an electric heater. "My kitchen was just filling with gas. I was scared because it was coming out so quickly."

Though she was able to switch her gas off and was not hurt, five days later it has still not been restored.

Cadent say the gas supply has been restored to about a quarter on those affected

Many locals have blamed Yorkshire Water for the problems, saying the water main which ruptured was the latest in a series of leaks.

A spokesperson for the company said: "Burst pipes can happen for a number of reasons - often related to a change in temperature or pressure within the pipe. We constantly monitor our pipes so that we can reduce the risk of bursts, and the pipe in Stannington hasn't burst in almost a decade."

Michelle Davidson-Spencer has offered the use of her pub's shower to locals

Cadent said it hoped to have supply restored to most of the homes affected by Friday.

In the meantime pubs and churches have all opened their doors to offer hot drinks and warm spaces for those still left in the cold - the community spirit evident as residents pull together to battle against the chill.

The landlady of The Crown and Glove, a pub near to the relief hub set up at Lomas Hall, which is handing out supplies to residents and gas workers, has even offered the use of the pub's shower to anyone without hot water.

Michelle Davidson-Spencer and her wife, Mandy, have also been dishing out free soup and stews to locals and Cadent engineers.

"We've said to older customers if it snows we'll come pick you up," Michelle says. "I don't mind if you want to come in and order a takeaway and just sit by the fire.

"The village spirit here is amazing and we just want to do what we can to help."