Hundreds of Yorkshire homes in weekend without gas after main collapse

Around 600 homes in Helmsley, Nawton and Beadlam were cut off on Friday afternoon when a gas main collapsed during routine repairs.

Northern Gas Networks said last night that supply had been restored at 251 properties and engineers were continuing to visit customers to reconnect their homes.

The damaged gas main was repaired at 3pm on Saturday after resources and specialist equipment was drafted in from across the network.

“We need to carry out essential safety checks at each and every property before switching homes back on,” said Ian Cooper, customer operations support manager.

“We have brought in engineers from across the region and they are now going door-to-door to reconnect customers.

“If no-one is home, we will leave a card, so please contact us as soon as you return.

“We apologise for the inconvenience this has caused and thank customers for their patience and cooperation.”

Catering facilities were set up over the weekend at the Methodist Church on Ashdale Road in Helmsley, while a care team was appointed to visit vulnerable people at home and care packs were made available.

“We continue to ask customers in the vicinity who have not lost supply to limit their own use of gas to prevent further loss of supply to themselves and their neighbours,” said Mr Cooper.

“This is a temporary measure until such time that our engineers can rectify the supply issues.

“We are also working with engineers from Northern Powergrid who are closely monitoring the local electricity network and any potential knock-on increases in demand while residents are without their gas supply.”