Gas supplies fail for second night

Transco have 100 engineers working on the problem

Villagers in Kirkby Lonsdale have spent another freezing night in their homes after gas supplies failed for a second time.

Engineers have been working around the clock to reconnect supplies in the Cumbrian village after the equipment first failed on Sunday.

Transco sent in 100 engineers and handed out dozens of electric heaters and hobs to vulnerable and elderly people.

The company restored all supplies on Monday afternoon, but it went off again at 1630 GMT.

It has been really cold overnight but we have pulled out all the stops and have every spare man up to the village

Jeanette Jackson Transco

Transco said they had managed to restore 80% of homes by midnight on Monday and hoped to have the rest of the village restored on Tuesday.

But customers will not be compensated for the problem because the gap between the two faults means the supply was not off for 24 hours.

Hotel owner Mandy Jenkins said the cut had cost her thousands of pounds in lost revenue.

She said: "I have had to cancel bookings, turn people away and reduce my rates because I don't have any heating.

"I have got a party of 30 booked in for Wednesday in the restaurant and I hope I don't have to call them and cancel."

Cold weather

Jeanette Jackson, from Transco, told BBC Radio Cumbria it was a "military-style operation" to get supplies restored.

"We pulled in around 100 engineers from the north west and the Midlands.

"We can only apologise to the people of Kirkby Lonsdale.

"It has been really cold overnight but we have pulled out all the stops and we have got every spare man we could up to the village to help us get people back on."

Meanwhile, villagers in the Ravenglass and Eskdale area have been without water since Sunday morning.

The water company said the supply should be restored by 1000 GMT on Tuesday.

They had trouble finding the burst, which was under the river bed at Holmrook.