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Engineers have been working through the night to mend a damaged mains gas pipe that caused a widespread outage, leaving approximately 4,600 homes and buildings without gas in the Kingsbridge, Malborough, and Salcombe areas of south Devon. The disruption began on Saturday amid cold temperatures, prompting urgent repair efforts by Wales & West Utilities. By Sunday, the company confirmed that the damaged pipe had been repaired, but restoring gas supplies to customers remains a complex process requiring engineers to visit each affected property twice—first to turn off the gas safely and then to restore the connection.
Wales & West Utilities has dispatched over 100 engineers to carry out these essential visits. While some residents may have their gas restored as early as Sunday, many others will likely wait until Monday or Tuesday for the full return of their service. The company has stressed the importance of residents being present during these appointments to facilitate the reconnections. Gwyn Thomas, representing Wales & West Utilities, explained on BBC Radio Devon, “I am pleased to say our teams worked late into last night and managed to repair the main – so that first part of us getting the supply back has been completed.” He added, “Once that is completed, we will then be in a position to begin restoring supply to customers.”
The cause of the disruption was traced back to a third party working on land at Belle Hill near Kingsbridge, which damaged the mains pipe. This challenge coincides with a yellow ice and snow warning in place for the South West until Tuesday morning. Devon County Council has highlighted that the outage may affect five local schools scheduled to reopen shortly after the Christmas break. These include Kingsbridge Primary School, Kingsbridge Community College, West Alvington Primary School, Malborough Primary School, and Salcombe Primary School. The council has indicated that any closures will be communicated via its official schools website.
Local businesses have also felt the immediate impact of the outage. Wayne Grills, who runs Pizza Planet in Kingsbridge, confirmed that the restaurant had to close due to its dependence on gas for cooking. He stated, “We had to close, we cook on gas like many restaurants and takeaways. For us that was it, the minute we knew we didn’t have gas that was it, we were shut.” Commenting on the disruption, he noted that the timing was particularly unfortunate, as the last weekend before schools and workplaces reopened is usually busy. “Knowing the thousands of properties that will have to be visited by engineers, it is going to be a big task,” he added
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