Stannington gas pipe flood: Compensation doubled for residents

Work continues in Stannington to reconnect gas supplies more than a week after the initial incident

People left without gas after a burst water main flooded a gas network in Sheffield are to receive double the compensation they would normally get.

About 2,000 homes in Stannington were believed to have been affected following the burst on 2 December.

Cadent Gas said it had restored gas to around three quarters of properties and work would continue across the weekend.

The company said it would write to residents detailing how compensation would be paid.

People were left without heating or cooking facilities after water from a burst pipe leaked into the gas main, it saw water gushing out of cookers and gas meters.

How hundreds of thousands of litres of water leaked into the gas main remains unclear.

Cadent Gas said it had 200 engineers working round the clock to restore supplies.

"We are doing our very best to get your gas back on as quickly as possible," the company added.

"We estimate that around a million litres of water will have been pumped out of our gas mains by the end of this incident - this is equivalent to three swimming pools."

The gas network was flooded with water on 2 December

Richard Sansom, the company's director of the South Yorkshire and East Midlands network, said they appreciated it had been a "very difficult situation" for people to be without gas as temperatures dropped and to have water in appliances.

"Each property that has been without gas will receive an automatic doubled payment compensation payment and an automatic payment for seven days as a minimum, paid automatically to them," he said.

The usual licence payment of £65 for domestic customers will be doubled to £130 and an automatic payment for a minimum of seven days, totals £910.

For commercial properties, the payment of £105 will be doubled to £210, and an automatic payment for seven days, a total of £1,470.