Update: Hundreds of North Yorkshire homes without gas for second day

Around 600 properties in Helmsley, Nawton and Beadlam lost supply at 4pm yesterday after a gas leak when engineers were carrying out planned repairs. An incident room and community drop-in centre has been set up with winter warmer packs available for vulnerable people. Now Northern Gas Networks has said resources and specialist equipment is being drafted in from across the network to ensure repairs are carried out as quickly as possible.“Gas engineers were carrying out planned routine repairs to a gas main in the area when part of the main collapsed causing a bigger escape of gas and a fall in gas pressure," said Ian Cooper, customer operations support manager.“As a result, supply to around 600 customers in the surrounding villages and part of Helmsley was lost.“Specialist equipment has arrived on site and our engineers are working to restore supplies as quickly as possible.“We apologise for the inconvenience this has caused. Letters are being hand-delivered to all customers affected, notifying them that our engineers may need to access their property to isolate the service at the emergency control valve.“We are also asking 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. This is a temporary measure until such time that our engineers can rectify the supply issues.“We would like to thank customers for their patience and continued cooperation.”The company has said it is working with engineers from Northern Powergrid who are closely monitoring the electricity network and any potential knock-on increases in demand.While Northern Powergrid has indicated it currently has no issues, Northern Gas Networks has said that if it was to become significantly overloaded it could result in a power cut. Teams are ready to respond if necessary, the company said in a statement, but it has called on customers to be aware of their energy usage to reduce the risk of this happening. An incident room and community drop-in facility has been set up in the Methodist Church on Ashdale Road in Helmsley.