Appeal to track second home owners amid gas outage

It has been a "tough few days" for thousands of people after a major gas outage affected 4,600 properties, according to a town mayor.

More than 100 Wales and West Utilities (WWU) engineers have been working to restore supplies in the Kingsbridge, Malborough and Salcombe area of the South Hams in Devon following damage to a mains pipe on Saturday.

Salcombe mayor Jasper Evans said it had been a "tough few days" and he hoped "many more people in Salcombe" would have gas restored.

Michael Matthias, from Salcombe DIY and hardware, said a lot of holiday homes in the town had been affected and he had been working with WWU to get in touch with owners.

WWU said restoration was complete in Malborough, excluding properties where they could not gain access, and it was "beginning the process of restoring supplies" in Salcombe.

The utility company had said inaccessible second homes in Salcombe had slowed down the reconnection process.

Matthias said: "I've got a lot of their phone numbers so I've handed those over to the gas people and been trying to help them wherever I can."

Miriam Peppiatt, owner of Posh Hamper Co Salcombe, added: "Everybody's just been supporting everybody" during the outage.

"It's just been a matter of not being able to boil food or have hot showers but everybody locally has sort of said, 'If you want to come around and use a shower you're more than welcome to'.

"The engineers have been here since day... they've been reassuring everybody."

Becky Summer, from Oxfordshire, has been staying in an Airbnb in Kingsbridge.

"Unfortunately the gas outage means that we didn't have any central heating, so we didn't have any water, so yes it was a pretty cold couple of days," she said.

"We were quite lucky the owner did come and bring us some extra wood and we had a wood burner and we used that for heat... but it was quite cold in the bedrooms."

She said the gas supply had been restored on Monday night.

"It hasn't ruined it [her holiday] but I should think the people that didn't have a log burner or anybody that had gas cooking facilities would have been impacted," she said.

In its latest update, WWU said in Salcombe "commissioning of the gas main last night was successful" and "our teams are now already in the area beginning the process of restoring supplies".

"If people can make every effort to be at their properties today, this will greatly help to speed up the process of getting properties back on gas," a spokesperson said.

"We continue to appreciate the support and cooperation our teams are being shown by the communities here as we work to resolve the situation."

Evans said the number of empty and inaccessible second homes in Salcombe had slowed down the process of restoring gas supplies.

"We're really hoping today is going to be the big switch-on," he said.

"Wales and West need access to properties to check on things and there has been a really big push by them and by us to get access by contacting second home owners, agents, neighbours, to do that.

"If at all possible for residents, can they make sure that somebody is going to be at home to let Wales and West in."

He said a lot of lessons had been learned following the incident, including the importance of better communication with second-homeowners and the use of alternative gas options, such as heat pumps.

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