Burst water pipe leaves 750 homes without gas for days

Scotia Gas Network hands out electric heaters while engineers work on restoring the gas supply

Supplies were lost to around 750 homes after the burst main caused water to leak into gas pipes.

An emergency incident centre has been set up for local residents after supplies were lost on Monday evening.

Scotia Gas Network said its engineers were working to restore supplies as quickly as possible, but the firm could not say when the situation would return to normal.

Workers must contact all the affected properties to check their gas supplies are turned off before beginning work to purge water out of the system.

It is only once that work has been done and all the properties checked again that supplies can be reinstated.

In a statement, SGN said: "There are currently approximately 750 homes in the western part of Edinburgh without gas due to water entering the gas network.

"Our engineers are working hard to resolve this problem, but at this stage it is difficult for us to estimate how long this work will take. We would like to thank customers for their patience."

An incident centre has been set up in the hall of St Thomas's Church on Glasgow Road, which is also without heating.

Les Davies, a 53-year-old nurse, was one of those to pick up an electrical heater from the church yesterday. He said: "It's not the best time of year to be without heating, but the gas company have been quite good at sorting us out with electric heaters."

Rebecca Saunders, church co-ordinator, said: "We've had to phone everyone who has made a booking with us and tell them there's no heating.

"The gas company have told us they're going to need the hall for the rest of this week, but I don't know how long it will be before it's fixed.

"It's not a great situation, but we're happy to accommodate. We're just all rallying together at the moment."

SGN said portable electric appliances for cooking and heating would be made available to the elderly, disabled or families with young children.

A spokesman for Scottish Water said an investigation was under way to establish the cause of the leak. He said: "We are working with SGN to try and get gas customers re-supplied as soon as possible."

Scottish Water said it was unclear whether the leak was related to changes in water pressure at the nearby Gyle shopping centre.The centre was evacuated twice on Monday after an increase in pressure to the sprinkler system led to false fire alarms.

A spokeswoman for the city council added: "The council has been working very closely with Scotia Gas Networks and Scottish Water to make sure vulnerable people get the assistance they need."

n The affected streets are Craigs Avenue, Craigs Bank, Craigs Gardens, Craigs Road, Dechmont Road, Glasgow Road, Gyle Park Gardens, North Gyle Avenue, North Gyle Drive, North Gyle Farm Court, North Gyle Farm Lane, North Gyle Grove, North Gyle Loan, North Gyle Park, North Gyle Road, North Gyle Terrace, South Maybury, Turnhouse Road, West Craigs Avenue, West Craigs Crescent. SGN issued an emergency number for residents: 0845 0701432.