Graham Byers, Bradford-on-Tone Village Hall Treasurer with Wales & West Utilities Daniel Lawrence
Gas emergency and pipeline service, Wales & West Utilities, is thanking the community of Bradford-on-Tone after it rallied to support engineers who worked round the clock to restore gas supplies to the village.
The village showed true community spirit after a car crashed and damaged part of the above ground gas network the Monday before Christmas, affecting gas supplies to around 130 properties. Whilst gas engineers worked to restore gas supplies with 24 hours, they were touched by how supportive members of the local community were.
Thanks to the people of Bradford-on-Tone, Wales & West Utilities were able to use the Village Hall as a base, from which they could give out hot plates, blankets, and other supplies to those who needed it, whilst the staff at the White Horse Inn public house kindly offered hot drinks to engineers as they worked hard to restore gas supplies.
When we were alerted to the situation, we had to turn the gas supply to 130 homes in the village, leaving them without mains gas until we repaired the damage caused by the car crash.
Villagers were really understanding, considering the approach to Christmas and of course, Coronavirus, but still showed true community spirit.
We were touched by the way in which everyone came to support us as we carried out this essential work. Thanks to their kindness, we were able to concentrate on getting gas supplies up and running within 24 hours of the accident.
On behalf of my team at Wales & West Utilities I’d like to say a huge thank you for the understanding and kindness from local people – it really made a difference to us being able to get the gas flowing again.
By way of saying thank you, Wales & West Utilities has donated £200 to Bradford-on-Tone Village Hall which was offered free of charge at short notice.
Wales & West Utilities, the gas emergency and pipeline service, brings energy to 7.5m people across the south west of England and Wales. If you smell gas, or suspect the presence of carbon monoxide, call us on 0800 111 999 straight away, and our engineers will be there to help any time of day or night. Before visiting, we'll ask you to let us know if you or anyone in your household, is experiencing Coronavirus symptoms or self-isolating. We'll still come and help you: but our teams will take some additional precautions to keep us all safe.