Hundreds without gas after digger hits mains pipe

Work to restore gas supplies to hundreds of homes in Wiltshire after a mains pipe was hit by a digger "could take some time", a utility firm has warned.

Engineers worked late into Tuesday night to isolate a leak in Foundry Lane, Chippenham, following reports of a strong smell of gas made at 14:20 GMT.

Four fire crews attended the incident, with the source traced to a building site where the gas main had been damaged by a third party contractor.

Wales & West Utilities took over management of the incident on Tuesday evening and said it was reconfiguring its gas network to bypass the damaged pipe.

Network service manager Martyn Pallant said the repair is "complex".

"We have identified a way of reconfiguring how the system operates so that we can bring gas into the affected area which avoids the damaged section of pipe," he said.

"This means that we are now able to now start restoring gas supplies to customers in a phased manner.

"This will take some time as we need to ensure we maintain pressure in the pipe as we bring customers back on."

Engineers will visit all affected properties to ensure the gas is restored safely, Mr Pallant said, and customers do not need to contact the firm to arrange a visit.

"We do ask customers to be patient as we will need undertake the work in phases," he said.

"We would like to thank local people for their continued patience while we continue work to get the gas flowing again."

Engineers have been providing alternative cooking and heating facilities to vulnerable customers while they wait for gas supplies to be restored, the company said.

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