Gas bored

Street fed up as water keeps cutting supply
NEIGHBOURS in a Werneth street are facing random gas cuts — five months after originally reporting a fault.

Supplies to residents in Cotton Mill Crescent have been faulty since December, with homes left without gas for up to three days.

Over the past five months, workmen from National Grid have regularly had to drain the mains of water.

But they have not found the cause of the leak, and when the gas pipes refill, the gas cuts off.

Sughran Bibi said: “This has been going on since December when we spent three days without gas during the icy weather. At first I thought it was just my house but then I found out the whole street was affected and we’ve had problems ever since.

“Last Friday night, the gas went off again and it didn’t get come back until 6pm the following day.”

Mrs Bibi said National Grid says it does not know where the water is coming from.

“I’m sure it’s dangerous as we can smell gas in the street.”

Another neighbour, who did not want to be identified, said: “We never know when the gas is going to go off, everyone’s fed up of it.”

A spokesman for National Grid apologised for any inconvenience and said investigations were ongoing.

She said: “Somehow water is getting in the gas mains network.

“Water can travel for several hundred metres so it could be getting in quite a distance away.

“We are carrying out special survey work to detect if gas is escaping because water might be getting in that way.

“We are also planning to use cameras to detect any cracks inside the mains.

“Residents who have been left without gas for longer than 24 hours can claim compensation by ringing 0845 0700 203.”