Grandmother's birthday surprise in ruins after gas supply is cut off

Rosemary Harding was due to celebrate her 55th “milestone” birthday today after her family organised to surprise her on the big day. 

However, on Monday this week, engineers working in nearby Castle Lane West 'damaged a pipe' which cut gas supplies to homes in Castle Way. 

Rosemary, who has four grandchildren, said: “What happened was on Monday morning, my grandson went to put some food in the oven and he said he thought he had broken it.

Rosemary Harding (Image: Daily Echo)

“I thought there may have been an issue with the ignition, but it turns out that in the early hours, workmen had accidentally cut on an old gas pipe and they didn’t realise it was connected to the houses. 

“Since then, we’ve had no hot showers as the emergency supply doesn’t work, which the boys don’t mind, but also, we’ve had no food cooked in the oven.

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“[It] is my birthday and it turned out my family had planned a surprise party for me which involved cooking food, but it can’t happen now.” 

Rosemary said she was disappointed it would not be going ahead, but that alternative arrangements have since been made for family members to go out for a meal. 

Gas work in Castle Lane West (Image: Daily Echo)

However, her daughter, Sophie, said: “Not everybody can afford to do this, so not all the family will be here to celebrate." 

The 31-year-old mother of two boys, 11 and six, added: “It’s been challenging for my son because he doesn’t like eating takeaways, so we have to use the oven to cook food for him. 

“There are also the sleepless nights that people are having because of the work being done at night – it's not good to then wake up and for there still be no gas after a long night.” 

Meanwhile, traffic is bad in Castle Lane West (Image: Daily Echo)

Meanwhile, neighbour Trevor Berry said he has been making “endless trips walking up and down the stairs with a kettle” to take hot water to his bathroom. 

The 69-year-old pensioner and father of four said: “The boys are having to have cold showers, and cold showers in this hot weather is not good – it's sticky out there. 

“We can’t use the immersion gas heater as it’s too expensive to run.” 

A spokesman for SGN confirmed that around a dozen homes in Castle Way have lost gas supplies due to the emergency repairs.

He added: "The affected properties were informed immediately and our engineers have been working as quickly and safely as possible to lay a new main so that the properties can be reconnected to gas.

"They will all receive compensation for their time without gas, as agreed with the energy regulator Ofgem.

"We’d like to apologise to all customers impacted by this and thank them for their patience, understanding and support."

It is hoped the properties will be reconnected this week.