Gas smell from France sparks South East alert

3:30pm Tuesday 22nd January 2013 in Local News By Emma Thomas

A STRONG smell of gas sparked thousands of calls to the emergency helpline.

People in the South East of England reported the odour, which is believed to have come from a chemical factory in northern France, to the National Gas Emergency phone line believing there to be a leak nearby.

National Grid says on an average day it receives 8,000 calls from around the country but by 1pm today it had already received 75,000 calls.

The company says it is very important they do not miss any genuine gas emergencies, so people should call the National Gas Emergency Number 0800 111 999 if they think they can smell gas in their property.

People are advised to keep calling this number if you cannot get through first time.

 

Comments(8)

Dan_ says...
4:32pm Tue 22 Jan 13

Sorry but is whatever they can smell safe? To have fumes from some French factory wafting all the way across the channel and up my nostrils? What the hell was it then?

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j-w says...
4:41pm Tue 22 Jan 13

Dan, look up mercaptan. They add this to gas which is odourless so you can smell it when there is a gas leak.

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r6keith says...
5:27pm Tue 22 Jan 13

Do i detect a hint of garlic?

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Nebs says...
5:55pm Tue 22 Jan 13

Maybe Le Pétomane is making a comeback.

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BinDipper says...
8:06pm Tue 22 Jan 13

The only smells I want coming from France are fine wine, classy perfume and jolly good cheese.

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Almeda11 says...
9:05pm Tue 22 Jan 13

Dan_ wrote:
Sorry but is whatever they can smell safe? To have fumes from some French factory wafting all the way across the channel and up my nostrils? What the hell was it then?
DAN -- go to this website:
http://nl.dw.de/DTS?
url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww
.dw.de%2Ffactory-lea
k-nauseates-northern
-france%2Fa-16540725
%3Fmaca%3Den-newslet
ter_en_bulletin-2097
-txt-newsletter&emv_
key=F9X7CqlU_jlX8SA9
MKJYa3kY54O102IMNfcS
tGb5lw8W0bBhOG5mpqVs
je_Hhe-g21lD

Copy/paste in in your browser. lt`s a DW ( DeutscheWelle) ie German website, with news articles in english, and they give a much more comprehensive article on it than here.

Basically, it is NATURAL gas, the mercaptan is put in so you can smell it, but it`s said that the concentrations are low.
Good job we`re not in France eh!

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Eric the Red says...
2:02pm Wed 23 Jan 13

It is also found in **** - true!

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sosad 1 says...
9:04pm Wed 23 Jan 13

sorry i will not use that take away again ! the french put there hands up there losing touch they are come back"" de gaulle"" o you did?

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