Schools closed in Falkirk gas failure
Last updated 2nd Dec 2019
Families around Falkirk could be without gas for five days as engineers work to restore supplies to thousands of homes following a failure in the network.
Gas network company SGN is working to restore supplies to around 8,000 properties after the problem started on Sunday, but said it could be Friday or even into next weekend before supplies are restored to everyone.
Fourteen schools, nurseries and education facilities in the area were closed on Monday due to the issue.
SGN has set up an information centre at Camelon Community Centre and said electric hot plates and heaters are available for residents with young children and vulnerable and older people.
The company is drafting in extra engineers from across Scotland to help deal with the problem.
SGN spokesman Denis Kerby said: "The extreme in terms of getting everyone back on, we'll be able to restore supplies in areas so we will introduce gas through the network and get people restored so we will start restoring as quickly as we can, that might be a couple of days, but in terms of getting everyone back on we're looking at five days so it could be up to Friday, it could even creep into the weekend, that is really the worst-case scenario.''
The company said a fault in a piece of equipment that regulates pressure in the gas network was to blame.
Engineers are going door to door to turn off supplies in affected properties and had visited 3,000 homes by the end of Sunday night.
In a statement, SGN said: Thank you for your patience so far. We appreciate it's not easy being without your gas supply in the cold weather and we're doing all we can to get your gas back on as quickly as possible.
"It's likely it will be several more days until everyone's gas supplies are restored
SGN said it would provide electric heaters and cookers for the elderly, disabled, chronically sick and those with young children - and they would be available from Camelon Community Centre.
"While we repair the gas governor, we need to visit all affected properties to turn off your gas supply at the meter and we'll need access to your home to turn off your gas supply,'' SGN said.
"It will take us some days to reach everyone so if you do need to pop out or go to work, it would be helpful for us if you're able to leave a key with a neighbour.
"With so many homes affected, it's likely you could be without your gas supply for several days. We're sorry for the inconvenience this will cause. We're doing all we can to restore gas supplies to the area as soon as possible.''
Falkirk Council said it had alerted housing and social work services to be on stand-by to support SGN.
St Mungo's High School and Larbet High School will be closed on Monday, along with nine primary schools and three other learning facilities.
"We have a list of vulnerable people in the area so we know were people who may have the most difficulty are,'' a spokesman said.
He added that all care homes in affected areas are currently fine.
"We are ready to support SGN in any way we can,'' he said.
Scott McLean, 42, lives in Larbert and was one of those at Camelon Community Centre to pick up supplies.
He said he was awoken at 4am by his boiler "vibrating and going crazy''.
He said: "I'd been out for a Christmas night out and got to bed at two in the morning. So at 4am in the morning I was having a drunken conversation with my dog about what to do about the problem, but he didn't have any ideas, so I just switched the boiler off and went back to bed.
"We have a WhatsApp group with my neighbours and people started saying they had the same problem and I knew then it wasn't just my boiler on the blink.''
Mr McLean's three children will not be able to attend school tomorrow due to the closures.
"We'll have to work out what we can cook in the microwave, and now with this hotplate, so we'll rustle meals together and get plenty of duvets down in the living room and have plenty of movies for the kids,'' he said.
"It's all of us coming together. Everybody is clubbing together to get the street through it."
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