Jersey gas shutdown: restaurant owner cancels dozens of bookings

Abdul Samad said Jersey's gas shutdown has been difficult

For restaurateur Abdul Samad, the most difficult part of Jersey's gas shutdown has been disappointing his customers.

He said he had to cancel dozens of bookings at Indian restaurant Cafe Spice after Island Energy confirmed the gas supply would not return until Tuesday at the earliest.

This has left Mr Samad, and many other island venues, with little choice but to close.

Island Energy has apologised for the disruption.

The shutdown of Jersey's gas network came after a software failure at the La Collette plant, Island Energy said.

Supply was shut to about 4,500 connections as a precaution but it will need to be reintroduced in stages, it said.

'It's difficult'

Mr Samad said he and other restaurant owners were in disbelief.

"In the 35 years I've been in the trade, I've never heard of it," he said.

"My chef has been in the trade for 40 years and he has never heard of anything like this happening.

"It's very hard calling everybody and telling everybody letting them know we're not opening ... you've got birthdays and anniversaries - it's difficult."

The Jersey Hospitality Association predicted an "enormous" impact on the industry and it called for the gas to be urgently restored.

Island Energy says the outage at its La Collette plant was caused by a software failure

Mr Samad questioned why there was no back-up system in place.

He said even during the coronavirus pandemic he could still cook.

"Something like this in a developed island like this, a very wealthy developed island, shouldn't happen," he said.

He said he would have to "ride it out" during the next few days.

For now, that means hitting the phones.

"I've spent all afternoon calling people."