Dudley families left shivering after being stranded without gas for 34 hours
Seventy-one homes in a Dudley cul-de-sac were stranded without gas for about 34 hours – leaving families shivering in freezing temperatures.
Water began pouring into a hole as National Grid workers were digging to install a new main in Pearce Close, Russells Hall, blocking the gas supply on Wednesday at about 7.30am.
Local residents were angry it took so long to restore the gas supply, which was eventually turned back on at around teatime yesterday.
Steve White, aged 29, who lives with his fiancee Stephanie Gordon, 28, and their five-month-old baby Edward in Pearce Close, said: "They kept telling us the gas would be back on in two or three hours but it went on and on.
"National Grid gave us one electric heater per household but that didn't help much and Stephanie and Edward, who was in hospital recently with a chest condition, had to move out to her parents' home.
"People were having to go to other houses to have showers to maintain personal hygiene and two elderly ladies who were due to come home from hospital had to stay in because there was no heating."
Mr White, who runs his own company, Diamond White Cleaning Services, added: "It was appalling – there was very little communication and I have made a formal complaint."
Another resident, Rosemarie Plaister, aged 79, said: "It was freezing and I was having to wrap up in blankets to keep warm.
"It was like an icebox in the house and I couldn't use the electric heater I was given because my dogs might have knocked it over."
National Grid spokesman Jane Taylor said: "We are sorry for the inconvenience to customers. The problem was caused by water getting into the gas pipes while we were working on the gas main in Pearce Close.
"The hole we were digging filled with water and about four gallons got into our pipe, which was enough to block it."
She added: "The reason it took so long to fix is that we had difficulty finding out where the water was coming from and it's quite a complicated pipe layout there. South Staffordshire Water came out to help us."
National Grid was able to begin to turn gas back on in Pearce Close from about 4.30pm.
