St Albans - Water in gas pipes

Good morning,
 
This is our farewell to the residents of Park Street and here is a final update from Kate Grant, Network Director for East of England.
 

 We only have a small number of homes that we need to restore gas to in Park Street and will continue to visit those today. If we don’t get an answer after several visits, we will leave a note with details of how to contact us.
 
Please DO NOT try to restore your own supply. It is not safe for you to do so. Our engineers need to complete their safety checks, and make sure there is no water in your gas meter or gas appliance before they are able to switch on the gas.
 
If you need to speak to our customer team, please call 0800 917 7160. The phone line will stay active for the time being. You will also find answers to some frequently asked questions on the FAQs tab on this page.
 
We’re keeping engineers in Park Street for a while yet so that, when you call, we are just nearby and will be there before you know it.
 
You will still our specialist teams around over the weekend filling in the numerous holes we’ve had to dig. Park Street is a beautiful place, and we’ll make sure it stays that way.

We want to say one big last thank you for your patience, understanding and support during this incident.
 
One last important reminder. If you smell gas, now or anytime in the future, always act immediately and call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999* at any time of the day or night. 
 
Please save the number in your phone so you always have it to hand.
 
*All calls are recorded and may be monitored.
 
 

 

Good evening,
 
We now only have small numbers of homes that we need to restore gas to in Park Street. Our teams have worked wonders this week and we have gas flowing up to every home that was impacted. We expect to visit every one of these remaining homes tonight, before 10pm.
 
What happens if we don’t get an answer after several visits is that we will leave a note with details of how to contact us.
 
We are keeping engineers in Park Street for a while yet so that, when you call, we are just nearby and will be there before you know it.
 
They will check your boiler and your appliances, to make sure everything is working as it should be.
 
Please DO NOT try to restore your own supply. It is not safe for you to do that.
 
The big Cadent truck – our ‘mobile command unit’ – that’s taken residence in the car park of Greenwood Park Community Centre will depart tomorrow morning.
 
However, we are very aware that we’ve dug a significant number of holes around Park Street, as we’ve hunted where all the water got to.
 
Please be assured that we’ve lined up specialist teams to come and sort all that out, over the weekend. Park Street is a beautiful place, and we’ll make sure it stays that way.
 
When we turned up here over a week ago now, we did so with a determination to resolve this as quickly as we could, but knowing this would take some time.
 
What has become clear to us, as temporary residents of Park Street, is that you are a wonderful, resilient community. Despite the circumstances you found yourselves in, you’ve been incredibly supportive of our team, and we can’t thank you enough for that.
 
If you need to speak to our customer team tonight, the phone line for this incident stays active for the time being: 0800 917 7160. You will also find answers to some frequently asked questions on the FAQs tab on this page.
 
Finally, if you smell gas, now or anytime in the future, always act immediately and call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999*.
 
*All calls are recorded and may be monitored.
 
 

Good afternoon Park Street,
 
We have been out and about in the sunshine, knocking on doors in Zone 3 so we can do the essential safety checks and safely turn your gas appliances back on.
 
We know that it can be a little frustrating if we haven’t been to you yet, but rest assured that our engineers are on their way. We are working as quickly and as safely as we can to get every property reconnected and an engineer will call at every home that has been affected.
 
If you are away or working don't worry, we will return at least three times. After that, we will leave details for you to contact us directly when you are at home.
 
Please DO NOT try to turn your own gas supply back on. This needs to be done by a qualified engineer.
 
Thank you for your patience, kindness and understanding during this incident.
 
 

Good morning, Park Street, we are nearly there.
 
Yesterday, our engineers were able to clear the remaining zone of water, clear our network and restore gas back into the pipes. This means all of Zone 3 has gas restored to meters and we were able to start turning gas back on to the homes in all three phases of Zone 3.
 
Please DO NOT try to switch your own gas supply back on.  Please wait for our engineer to visit, to complete the safety checks, make sure there is no water in your gas meter or gas appliance, before they are able to switch on the gas.
 
With nearly 70% of properties now with gas, we are making an extra effort to try and restore the remaining 30% today. 
 
To enable our engineers to switch your gas supply back on, we do need you to be at home.  We realise that some people aren’t able to stay at home but if you could leave a key with a neighbour that would be helpful.  If, however, we do miss you, don’t worry, we will visit each property at least three times.  We know that some of you won’t be available until after 5pm today, so we will continue to knock on doors until around 10pm this evening. 
 
We will be back on Saturday too, to restore gas to the few remaining homes and businesses.
 
We aren’t going anywhere until everyone’s gas is back on, and we have filled in every hole we made, to pump out the water, in Park Street.
 
Once again, we would like to thank every resident who has been affected by this incident, due to the water entering our gas network.  We appreciate this has been very frustrating and we are grateful of your patience and understanding.
 
Thank you!
 

Good afternoon, Park Street. 

As we are sure you're aware, work is currently taking place in Zone 3 to restore gas to the network. We have completed the work to Phase A which means that our engineers can begin calling at homes to restore the gas this afternoon. We will be starting with customers on the Priority Services Register, but will be getting around to all homes as soon as we can. 

Our engineers do need to carry out safety checks to turn your gas supply back on so please DO NOT attempt to turn on the gas yourself.   

We’ve also seen on social media that there have been some discussions about the number of holes that have been excavated as part of our work to restore gas to the network in Park Street. 

Now, whether this is a community sweepstake, we aren’t 100% sure, but we thought that we could tell you a little about the importance of why these holes were dug in the first place. 

As you know, last Thursday (29 June) water entered the gas network which resulted in the flow of gas being blocked. If you haven’t already done so, please look at the animation under the ‘Videos’ tab which explains our role in resolving this issue. 

To get gas flowing back into the network it was necessary for us to pump all the water out of the network and to do so we needed to gain access to the 15km (that’s about as far from the Greenwood Community Centre to Luton) of pipeline underneath Park Street that had been affected. 

To be able to do this, our engineers had to carefully map out exactly where we could access each of the pipes which would allow our pumps to remove the water. As you have seen, it wasn’t a case of just one hole, many had to be dug in each zone so that water could be removed as quickly and as safely as possible before the gas supply could/can be restored. 

While we remain hopeful that the end is very much in sight, we will continue to carry out all necessary work to ensure that water is removed and that the gas supply is fully restored to all properties that were affected. We will then be back to ensure that all the holes are filled and the roads are returned to normal. 

Thank you once again for your patience and understanding as we work in your area. If you have any questions or need extra support, please contact us - you'll find us in The Pavilion, next to Greenwood Park Community Centre, Tippendell Lane, today but if you can’t make it there just call us on 0800 917 7160. 

Good morning, Park Street, only a few more days to go.
 
Zone 1 and 2
We have now visited every property at least three times.  If you were in, we were able to safely turn your gas supply back on. If we missed you, we are visiting Zone 1 and 2 again this morning but if you are not in; and can’t leave a key with a neighbour, we will leave a card and ask you to call us when you return home.  We will then send an engineer to you.  This will ensure you are home when we call again, and we can turn your gas back on.  We ask that you only call the number on the card left at your property. 
 
Please DO NOT try to turn your own gas supply back on.
 
Great news, over half of the properties affected by water getting into our gas pipes last Thursday, are back on gas.  Over the next few days, if you are in, we will be able to get your gas back on.  Keep an eye on the website or social media and we’ll let you know when we are starting in your street.
 
Zone 3 
We completed all the preparation work last night and this morning we will start to put gas back into our network in this zone, one phase at a time.  Please, DO NOT be tempted to try to turn your own gas supply back on.  We need to carry our safety checks and ensure water is not in your appliances or the gas meter.
 
We are aiming to start connecting gas to homes and businesses in Zone 3, from lunchtime.  For those without gas in their home, we appreciate this can be a frustrating time. 
 
We have secured extra engineers to switch homes back on gas today.  If everything goes to plan, we should be able to get the majority of the remaining homes back on gas today and tomorrow, if you are in. 
 
Don’t worry, we aren’t going anywhere, we will keep on visiting you and won’t leave until the last property is back on gas.
 
Hot showers
 
If you are in need of a hot shower, you are still able to go to these leisure centres for a shower.  (There’s no charge just explain that your home is in the affected water ingress area of Park Street and have no gas.)

• Westminster Lodge Leisure Centre, Holywell Hill, St Albans, AL1 2DL 
• Cotlandswick Leisure Centre, 314 High Street, London Colney, St Albans, AL2 1EB 
• Batchwood Golf and Sports Centre, Batchwood Drive, St Albans, AL3 5XA 

 
You will need to sign in and out to use the facilities.  Please be mindful of busy times for the swimming pools is around 3-6pm, so it might be best to avoid these times for your shower. 
 
Thank you again for your continued patience, understanding and support for our teams working in your area.

Good evening Park Street residents,

Zones 1 and 2

Things are continuing to progress well as we restore the gas network to the Park Street area. We’re pleased to say that Zones 1 and 2 have had all works completed and a large number of residents in these areas are now reconnected. 

We have visited every single property in these zones but if you were not in, we will continue to knock on doors until at least 10pm this evening to switch your gas back on, so we do need you to be in.  

We’ll be returning at 8am tomorrow.

Zone 3
Many of you will have seen that preparation work for Zone 3 has been ongoing throughout the day. Our teams have been digging holes which gives us access to the network and allows us to remove any remaining water. We hope that this excavation work will be completed tonight, which will mean that we can start restoring gas into this part of the network tomorrow morning.

If all goes to plan, we are aiming to start restoring gas to properties and businesses in Zone 3 from lunchtime tomorrow.

A little reminder, our engineers do need to carry out safety checks to turn your gas supply back on, so if you haven’t been visited yet, we will continue to call at your home.

Please DO NOT attempt to turn on the gas yourself. 

Once again, we’d like to thank everyone for your patience and understanding as we complete our work. 
If you have any questions or need extra support, please contact us. We will be in The Pavilion, next to Greenwood Park Community Centre, Tippendell Lane tomorrow morning and if you can’t make it down, please call 0800 917 7160.

Here is a quick update from our Incident Controller, Dan Ridlington

Good afternoon Park Street residents, 

We’d like to say a huge thank you for your patience and understanding whilst we have been in your area restoring gas supplies following an interruption to our gas network. 

As we begin the process of restoring gas to homes in the area, we are aware that there have been questions raised about compensation. As each Zone has its gas restored, our Customer Relations Team are sharing a letter explaining what compensation is available and how it is paid, 

Following the unplanned loss of gas supply and under our Guaranteed Standards of Performance  (GSOP) the following compensation arrangements apply: 

·    Properties used for domestic purposes only will be entitled to £70 for every complete 24-hour period without gas up to the point at which we first visited the property to reconnect the supply. 

·     Properties used for non-domestic purposes only (e.g., factories) will be entitled to £115 for every complete 24-hour period without gas up to the point at which we first visited the property to re-connect the supply. 

So, for example only (not in relation to your gas interruption): Monday at 10am, gas supply was turned off. Wednesday at 5pm gas is available. Total hours off gas was 55hrs (2 x 24 hours @ £70) = £140 compensation. 

This payment will be paid automatically to your gas supplier whose name will be at the top of your gas bill, so you won’t need to do anything to claim compensation. Please note that it can typically take a few weeks for your gas supplier to process the payment, so please don’t contact them straight away if you don’t hear anything. 

You can see updated information about compensation by clicking on the FAQ tab. This information will also be included in the letter that you will receive from our teams once gas has been restored in your area. 

Thank you again for your patience as we restore the gas supply in the area. 

Good morning residents of Park Street.
 
We are making progress in getting water out of our gas network and restoring gas supplies to homes, however, the rain yesterday did not help us and slowed progress. ☹
 
As quickly as we were digging excavations to pump out the water, the holes were filling up with rain water.   Despite this, we are really pleased to say that we were able to restore gas to our network in Zone 2 and started to switch customers’ gas back on last night.
 
We continue to find pockets of water in our network in Zone 2, so we will monitor this part of the network this morning. We will also return to any properties from Zone 1 and 2 that we have not yet been able to gain access, to check your gas appliances and switch your gas back on.
 
So far, we have pumped out approximately 12,000 litres of water from our network and we are still pumping the water out.  That's equivalent to 150 baths, full to the top!

Today is a new day and the sun has come out and rain is not forecast.  (😊 Fingers crossed.)
 
Preparation work will continue for Zone 3 to pump the water out of our network. This does mean a few more excavations, to help with removing water.  If all goes well and we are able to pump all the water out of this part of the network, we may be able to start restoring gas into part of this network later this evening.
 
Please bear with us.  Our engineers are doing their very best and working very hard to restore your gas supply as quickly and safely as possible. 
 
We continue to be at The Pavilion, Greenwood Park Community Centre and at the end of the phone on 0800 917 7160, if you have any further questions.
 
Thank you.

Good evening, Park Street residents.
 
Summer showers have done little to diminish our efforts today as we look to reconnect the gas network in your area.
 
With the bulk of Zone 1 reconnected, our attention is now very much on Zone 2 (please see ‘Affected Areas’ tab). Engineers have continued the restoration process today and we have started to reconnect houses in this zone.
 
Once again, we do need you to be in. We must carry out full checks before we can turn your gas supply on. We will continue to visit your property until we have your gas back on and we will visit at least three times.
 
Our colleagues have also started digging work in Zone 3 which will continue tonight and into tomorrow. Once that work is completed, we should be able to start the process of restoring gas to the network in this final zone. Again, we will be working in phases in Zone 3 and you can check the ‘Affected Area’ tab to find out which streets are in the Zones and Phases.
 
Please DO NOT try to turn your own gas supply on. We are still pumping water out of the network and we need to carry out the safety checks of your gas appliances and gas meter before your gas can be safely restored.
 
If you have any questions or need extra support, please contact us. We will be in The Pavilion at Greenwood Park Community Centre, Tippendell Lane, tomorrow morning and if you can’t make it down, please call 0800 917 7160.
 

Good morning, Park Street residents. 

Work to restore the gas network has continued to go well with all properties within Zone 1 being reconnected. Over a quarter of properties have had their gas fully restored and we will continue our attempts to access the remaining properties so that safety checks of your gas appliances and gas meter can be carried out.  

Please DO NOT try to turn your own gas supply on. We must carry out these full checks before turning your gas supply on. We will continue to visit your property until we have your gas back on. If you are working today, we will continue to visit your property until we can gain access to complete all the necessary safety checks.  

Today we will continue our work to restore gas to the network in Zone 2 and start excavation work in Zone 3, Phase A.  

We are still pumping water out of the gas network with an additional 20 litres being removed from Zone 2 yesterday – that means in excess of 11,000 litres of water have been removed from the gas network. 

If you have any questions or need extra support, please contact us. We will be in The Pavilion, Community Centre again today and if you can’t make it down there, please call 0800 917 7160. 

We’d also like to remind you that a number of local leisure centres are still offering shower facilities to residents of Park Street who have been affected and are without their gas supply. 

A big thank you to:  

Westminster Lodge Leisure Centre, Holywell Hill, St Albans, AL1 2DL 

Cotlandswick Leisure Centre, 314 High Street, London Colney, St Albans, AL2 1EB 

Batchwood Golf and Sports Centre, Batchwood Drive, St Albans, AL3 5XA 

You will need to sign in and out to use the facilities.  Please be mindful of busy times for the swimming pools is around 3-6pm, so it might be best to avoid these times for your shower. 
 

Good Evening Park Street,
 
It has been another busy day but we have made good progress in restoring gas back to Zone 1 properties. Phases A & B have been completed, and work is well underway to get phase C restored. Our engineers will be visiting properties in Zone 1, Phase C and we hope to have this completed this evening.
 
Our engineers have also been carrying out excavation work in Zone 2, meaning that we should be able to start the process of restoring gas to the network tomorrow morning and then to properties later in the day. Again, we will be working in phases and you can check the ‘Affected Area’ tab to find out which streets are in the Zones and Phases.
 
Please DO NOT try to turn your own gas supply on. We are still pumping water out of the network, and we need to carry out the safety checks of your gas appliances and gas meter before your gas can be safely restored. We’re completing our work in phases and gas can only be restored once the network in that Zone and Phase has been completely checked.
 
Once again, we do need you to be in. We have to carry out these full checks before we can turn your gas supply on. We will continue to visit your property until we have your gas back on. We will visit at least three times.
 
We’ll continue our work to get gas supplies restored until 10:30pm this evening, and we will start again at 8am tomorrow morning.
 
We appreciate this may feel like a long process, but we have to ensure there is no water left in the network or in your gas appliances.
 
The next phases and zones will follow over the next few days.
 
If you have any questions or need extra support please contact us. We will be in The Pavilion, Community Centre tomorrow morning from 9am. If you can’t make it down there, please call us on 0800 917 7160.

Good morning Park Street.
 
Work went well yesterday and we started to get properties back on gas in Zone 1. This work will continue this morning and we are aiming to start restoring gas supplies to the remaining properties in Zone 1, Phase C from early afternoon. 
 
We are also aiming to start restoring gas supplies to Zone 2 later today and we’ll post again when we start work in Zone 2.
 
Please DO NOT try to turn your own gas supply on. We are still pumping water out of the network and we need to carry out the safety checks of your gas appliances and gas meter before your gas can be safely restored.  We are completing our work in phases and gas can only be restored once the network in that Zone and Phase has been completely checked.
 
Once again, we do need you to be in. We have to carry out these full checks before we can turn your gas supply on. We will continue to visit your property until we have your gas back on. We will visit at least three times.
 
We have extra people on site today, around 80 engineers and support staff, working to get your gas supply restored as soon as possible. If you are working today, we will continue to visit your property until we can gain access to complete all the necessary safety checks.
 
If you have any questions or need extra support please contact us. We will be in The Pavilion, Community Centre again today and if you can’t make it down there, please call us on 0800 917 7160.
 
We would like to thank you for your patience, understanding and your kindness to our engineers.  It is really appreciated.

We’re pleased to say that we are starting to restore gas supplies to some properties in the area.

We’ve been able to ensure all properties in Zone 1 were safely off gas. So, we can start the restoration process in this area now. 
 
We have divided Zone 1 into three phases. This evening our engineers will be visiting the properties in Zone 1, Phase A and we hope to complete Phase B this evening too, as long as you are in.
 
Please check ‘Affected Area’ tab to find out which streets are in the Zones and Phases. Zone 1, Phase A - Parts of Tippendale* will be restored along with Orchard Drive and Ruscombe Drive. Zone 1 Phase B – Dell Road and Mayflower Road later this evening, if possible.
 
Please DO NOT try to turn your own gas supply on. We are still pumping water out of the network, and we need to carry out the safety checks of your gas appliances and gas meter before your gas can be safely restored. We’re completing our work in phases and gas can only be restored once the network in that Zone and Phase has been completely checked.
 
Once again, we do need you to be in. We have to carry out these full checks before we can turn your gas supply on. We will continue to visit your property until we have your gas back on. We will visit at least three times.
 
We’ll continue our work to get gas supplies restored until 10:30pm this evening, and we will start again at 8am tomorrow morning.
 
We appreciate this may feel like a long process, but we have to ensure there is no water left in the network or in your gas appliances. We have pumped out a further 1,200 litres of water so far today.
 
The next phases and zones will follow over the next few days.
 
 *Properties on Tippendale closest to Orchard Drive and Ruscome Drive will be switched on this evening.

 

Latest update - Sunday 2 July 2023 18:05PM

Great news! We have started pumping water out of the gas network. So far, we have collected four full tankers of water out of our gas pipes. That’s 2,300 litres per tanker. We’ll continue this work today.
 
We don’t know how much water is in our network so we can’t say how long this incident will continue. However, we are not leaving until everyone is back on gas.
 
This morning we will return to the handful of remaining properties where we need to complete the safety check, to ensure the gas meter has been safely turned off. If you have received a letter from us please call us on 0800 917 7160 and we can send an engineer to your property.
 
What’s next?

We have divided the affected area into three zones (see Affected Area tab). Once the water has been removed from our network in one zone, we can clear the mains and start putting gas back into the network. Once this has been completed, we will start to revisit each property to complete the safety checks before it is safe to turn the gas supply back on to each home or business. Please DO NOT try to do this yourself. 
 
We are progressing well. We are not expecting to start turning gas back on to properties until Monday morning.
 
Today, we have over 70 engineers and support staff on site again. Some of our engineers have come as far away as the West Midlands, across East Anglia and London. Affinity Water and the Red Cross are also here helping us during this incident. 
 
Every effort is being made to get you all back on gas as quickly and safely as possible and once again we thank you for your patience.
 

The Cadent customer centre in Park Street will be open until 7pm this evening (there is an event this evening in the hall), please call us on 0800 917 7160 if you have any questions or need assistance.
 
We will be back at 8am tomorrow (Sunday) morning.

The Pavillion, Greenwood Park Community Centre, Tippendell Lane, St Alban, AL2 3HW
 
We still have over 100 properties where we haven't been able to do our safety checks and safely switch off the gas supply at the meter.  We ask that people let us know when they are in, so we can send an engineer to the property.
 
We do need every property switched off before we can start to pump the water out of our network.  If you have received a letter from us, please call us on 0800 917 7160.
 
No access - we will be revisiting all the properties we have not been able to gain access and safely switch off the gas meter until around 10:00pm this evening. 
 
It is hoped that if all properties are safely switched off, we aim to start pumping water out of the gas mains around Sunday afternoon.  Depending on when this is completed, we can then start turning gas supplies back on. 
 
We can't give you accurate dates or times when your gas supply, will be back on, as we don’t know how much water is in our network.  However, we hope all will be completed by the end of next week, if not sooner.
 
Thank you for your continued understanding.  We are doing everything we possibly can to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

Appeal to residents in Park Street

 

We have been successful in safely switching gas supplies at the meter to many affected properties in Park Street. However, there are still more properties we need to switch off before we can start pumping water out of our network and get supplies back on.

 

We need to do the checks that the gas meter has been switched off safely, so if you have done this yourself we will still need to do the check.

 

We need those who have not been in when we have visited to be in, or let us know when they will be in. We can then visit and safely switch off your gas supply.

 

We aren't able to start pumping out water until all properties have been checked and safely switched off.

Good morning Park Street.  We have been out since 8am this morning knocking on doors to safely switch off the gas supply to affected properties. 
 
We ask that you do not try to do this yourself because we need to check that water hasn’t passed through the gas meter into your gas appliances.  We were successful in switching off the majority of properties yesterday, with the final push this morning.
 
We need to access all properties to safely switch off the gas supply, before we can start pumping water out of the network and returning gas.  We need people to stay in and wait for our engineers to visit and switch off.  If you can’t be in, please contact us on 0800 917 7160 or leave a key with a neighbour.
 
Once this has been completed, we can start to pump water out of the gas pipes.  We have already started the preparation work, so we can start this process.  We don’t know how much water has entered the network, so we can’t say for sure how long it will take to clear the network.
 
We have divided the area into three zones.  Once one area is clear of water, we will start to get gas back into the network and then we can start revisiting each property to complete the safety checks and turn the gas back on to each property.  Please do not try to do this yourself.
 
We appreciate this does take time, but we want to assure you that we have over 70 engineers and support staff from across the country in Park Street, here to get your gas supply back on as safely and quickly as possible.
 
It is hoped that we can start turning gas supplies back from tomorrow (Sunday) if everything goes to plan.  We know this will take a few days to get every household and business back on gas.
We thank you for your continued patience and understanding.
 
We’d like to thank the Red Cross and Affinity Water for their assistance in helping to look after the customers who need a little extra support during this incident.
 
 

Just a quick message before we finish this evening. 
 
We’ll continue to knock on doors until around 10:30 this evening, to ensure your gas supply is safely switched off. 

We find that people don’t like to open their door late into the night.  But don’t worry, we will be back at 8am tomorrow morning, to ensure the remaining few properties in the affected area, are switched off safely.
 
Once this has been completed, we can start pumping water out of our network and start to put gas back into the pipes.   We hope by Sunday, we can start switching some gas supplies back on.  You’ll appreciate we can’t guarantee times but we are striving to get you back on gas back as soon as possible.
 
Please do not try to switch off your gas supply or try to turn it back on either.  Please wait for our engineer to that.
 
We’ll keep you updated on progress mid-morning tomorrow.
 

There has been a lot of activity on-site today and, with apologies for taking a little while to gather together this update for you, this is the detailed position as at 3pm today.

What we know is that there was a burst water main and there is water in the gas network. This is blocking the flow of gas into properties. See the ‘affected areas’ of this page to see the roads we know have been impacted by this.

What we must do now is visit every impacted property, for one of our engineers to turn off your gas supply safely. Please DO NOT try to do this yourself. It is not safe for you to do that. Please try and stay in and our engineers will get to you. If you need to go out, perhaps leave a key with a neighbour?

Our engineers are now also trying to locate which pipes have water in them and then we’ll extract it all out. We then revisit every property, to restore your supply and do thorough checks of your boilers and appliances, to make sure they are working safely.

This is a considerable task and far from a quick fix. You’ll see we have a large presence in the area right now – and will continue to do so for as long as this takes. At this stage, we think It is likely to be well into the weekend before we can begin to consider restoring gas supplies.

Teams from both Cadent and Affinity Water are in the area, based from Greenwood Park Community Centre, in Tippendell Lane. You can visit us here if you have questions and we also have a dedicated phone line for customers impacted: 0800 917 7160. You will find answers to some of the common questions (including compensation) in the FAQ tab.

Three local leisure facilities have offered the use of their showers to residents impacted by this (Westminster Lodge Leisure Centre, Cotlandswick Leisure Centre and Batchwood Golf and Sports Centre). They just ask that you are mindful that they are busiest between 3pm and 6pm, so you might want to avoid these time if you do take up this offer.

We are also providing hot plates to customers who are on the Priority Services Register, which is a free service offered by utility companies. Please take a look at the information on the PSR here www.cadentgas.com/psr to see if you are eligible to join it.

Finally, we know it’s not nice at all to be without gas and we will be working as quickly as we can to restore it to your property. We’ve spoken to many of you today – despite the difficult circumstances you find yourselves in, your response and support to our teams in the area has been amazing and is greatly appreciated.
 

What we know is that there was a burst water main and water is now in the gas network.  The circumstances will be looked into in time but right now all our effort is concentrated on restoring gas and looking after the customers impacted by this.

A huge thank you to the Leisure Centres who have offered shower facilities to residents of Park Street who have been affected and are without their gas supply.

You will need to sign in and out to use the facilities.  Please be mindful of busy times for the swimming pools is around 3-6pm, so might be best to avoid these times for your shower.

Westminster Lodge Leisure Centre, Holywell Hill, St Albans, AL1 2DL

Cotlandswick Leisure Centre, 314 High Street, London Colney, St Albans, AL2 1EB

Batchwood Golf and Sports Centre, Batchwood Drive, St Albans, AL3 5XA