Appeal for patience as residents face fourth day without gas supply

HUNDREDS OF residents spent a fourth day without gas after supply was lost in West Yorkshire.

More than 3,000 properties were cut off after a gas main was damaged on Friday in Silsden near Bradford.

Northern Gas Networks (NGN) said its engineers had restored supply to more than 2,000 properties by last night.

But about 1,000 more homes remained without gas as the Easter bank holiday weekend continued. It coincided with snow and torrential rain causing chaos across the region as temperatures dipped again.

Eileen Brown, head of customer experience at NGN, said: “We would ask residents for their ongoing patience as we continue this work and thank them for their patience and cooperation.

“We are confident that we have the resources on site to reconnect remaining customers if they are at home. To help with this ongoing process across all zones, we asked residents to try and be available today to allow our engineers to carry out the necessary safety checks.”

NGN said that its engineers would need to visit every home affected to carry out safety checks before the supply could be restored.

A customer support centre had been set up at St James Church Hall for affected residents, and remained open yesterday.

Hot plates, fan heaters, food vouchers, refreshments and supplies were also available at Silsden Town Hall while Keighley Leisure Centre offered its shower facilities to those affected by the supply problems.

The network also tweeted its thanks to two youngsters who donated their Easter eggs to engineers who had been working to restore the supply.