Homes evacuated after gas main hit

An underground gas main at Milesmark roads department depot in Dunfermline, Fife, was ruptured by a digger at around 1:40pm yesterday.

Staff raised the alarm and pipeline operators Scotland Gas Networks were at the site on Carnock Road yesterday afternoon sealing the leak.

A 500-metre exclusion zone was set up which covered around seven streets in the Rumblingwell area. Residents gathered at Baldridgeburn Community Centre while the work was carried out.

A Fife Police spokesman said: "The wind is blowing the gas towards the houses, so we are taking every precaution we can."

The depot is used to store lorries, fuel and grit among other things. No staff or residents were injured in the incident.

A spokeswoman for Scotland Gas Networks, formerly Transco, said: "It looks as if a digger has damaged a medium-pressure gas pipe."