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Gas company criticised for 'dire' communication

Tony Fisherin Wilstead
News imageTony Fisher/BBC A woman with short hair and wearing a white jumper looking into the camera. Behind her are some hoardings on the road and houses on the other side. She is standing on a driveway which has pebbles on it and a hedge on the left.Tony Fisher/BBC
Resident Lynne Summerfield, who was without gas for five days, said it would have certainly helped "if they had had more ongoing communication"

People living in a village are demanding better communication over work to replace ageing gas pipes.

Residents in Wilstead in Bedfordshire were informed ahead of the work taking place - but since then they have suffered a loss of gas for several days and a burst water main.

Lynne Summerfield, 69, who lives on Cotton End Road, said that in the first instance, communication was good but then it was non-existent and "we have just been left dangling".

Dan Ridlington, head of operational delivery at Cadent Gas, said the firm "sent direct messages to customers to tell them what had happened".

He apologised to residents and thanked them "for their patience and understanding as we dealt with a sudden loss of gas that affected around 130 properties".

News imageTony Fisher/BBC A "Road Closed" sign on a grass verge by the road. There is another sign next to it which has details for Cadent Gas. There are plastic hoardings on the road and a wooden bench is also on the grass verge.Tony Fisher/BBC
Conservative councillor for Wixams and Wilstead Graeme Coombes has called for an urgent meeting with Cadent Gas over its plans for future work in the area

Summerfield said that "they (Cadent Gas) should have come round and told us what is going on."

She added there were "a lot of vulnerable people living round here on their own".

Conservative councillor for Wixams and Wilstead Graeme Coombes said "the communication has been dire".

He added: "People have been left in limbo and not been given a sense of when they were going to be reconnected."

He has called for council officers to organise an urgent meeting with Cadent Gas to explain what future work is going to happen and how it is going to happen.

He said that there are other sections of the pipe which will need to be replaced and "the same thing may happen again".

"All they need to do is go through an electricity cable and it will be like the third world," he added.

News imageTony Fisher/BBC A large hole which has been dug in the road. There are plastic safety railings around it. There are more railings in the background. On the right is a hedge and on the left there is a row of houses.Tony Fisher/BBC
Lynne Summerfield said it was "a health and safety issue with all the holes in the road right now"

Ridlington said that work had originally been scheduled to replace 600 metres of ageing gas mains along Cotton End Road between 26 January and 1 April.

"Unfortunately, the condition of the pipe being replaced was so poor that it resulted in a loss of gas," he said.

"Our priority at that point was to restore a safe gas supply while also reconnecting customers as safely and quickly as possible."

By Wednesday, a week after the loss of gas, all properties they were able to access had been reconnected.

"We will now begin the process of reinstating the road so that it can be fully reopened" said Ridlington.

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